


Gambit

by CrystalDragonJudas



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2015-03-06
Packaged: 2018-02-06 21:16:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 48,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1872771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalDragonJudas/pseuds/CrystalDragonJudas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To escape her repellent suitors, Queen Zelda devises a perfect plan to marry her champion and best friend, the Hero of Twilight. Sadly, everything does not go according to plan. Not only does Link adjust poorly to a life of rules and etiquette but there are several people who do not approve of the union, people who would rather have the legendary Hero dead than see them married.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Twilight Princess Zelink is my favourite Zelink despite the fact that it makes the least sense in-universe. This is also possibly the most shamelessly self-indulgent thing I have ever written. Shame on me. Bad fanfiction author.

That night, Link arrived at Queen Zelda’s suites to escort her down to dinner. He performed the service for her every single day, and gladly too, but that night’s dinner was going to be an extremely important one, as he understood it as Zelda was going to be making an announcement of some consequence. He was wearing his best shirt for the occasion, a deep green doublet without any of the frills most of the men at court tended to wear. It would be ridiculous to see the Hero of Twilight and an established military officer wearing something so frivolous, he’d decided, and even a plain silk tunic like his already felt much too fine for a humble goat herder to be wearing.

One of the guards stationed outside the door to the Queen’s suites gave him a suspicious glance when he approached. Link ignored it. While he and Zelda both considered each other close personal friends, for some people, the relationship between himself and the Queen of Hyrule was entirely too familiar for their delicate sensibilities. On occasion, a rumour would even reach his ears that the two of them were deeply intertwined in a passionate love affair. There was absolutely no truth in it, of course, although Link wished that there was because he was madly, desperately in love with her.  He didn’t think anyone needed to know that. Not the guards, not Zelda’s gossipy ladies-in-waiting and definitely not Zelda.

Especially not Zelda.

“You won’t find the Queen here, Sir,” one of the guards told him.

“What?” Link said, surprised. At this rate they would be late for dinner and Zelda could never stand to be late, especially for dinner, nor did she ever deviate from her schedule. “Where is she then?”

“A very important Council meeting has gone on longer than expected,” the same guard said gruffly, “and she’s been roaming the castle grounds ever since. Her Majesty will get here in due time.”

“Hey, you know what I heard?” the other guard said.

“No one cares, Matthew. Stop mouthing off,” the first guard grumbled.

His remark went entirely unheeded by Matthew the Guard, who seemed to sense that he had Link’s full attention. “I heard that the Council has been pressuring her to get married for ages now,” he finished proudly.

Link’s blood ran cold at that. It was true that Zelda had been seeing a non-stop stream of suitors for the past few months but she had told him in confidence that she didn’t care for any of them. Prince Aleksandar from the neighbouring country of Labrynna had about as much backbone as worm as well as an unattractive, wispy moustache. He was also incredibly boring since the only thing he could find to talk about was key-making, his favourite pastime.

Prince Louis, the last son of the King of the Emerald Isles, which were no more than a few bits of rock in the middle of the ocean had been handsome enough, having that rugged, swashbuckling look about him that only came from years at sea and had once been a serious contender, much to Link’s displeasure. Luckily, he’d turned out to be a philanderer and a drunkard and Zelda had lost interest in him. She’d also had him carried away when he’d come to meet her, totally drunk, and proceeded to take a piss right in front of her in one corner of the room. Link could have sent someone else to do Zelda’s bidding, he imagined, but he’d taken great pleasure in escorting the man away himself.

There had been others, of course, but Zelda had deemed them all too uninteresting, too boorish, too timid or too power-hungry and one time she had even said, “He just looked like the sort of person who picks his nose and then eats it. I couldn’t live with someone like that.” He’d expected that he would have enough time to work out a plan with Shad, who was a peer of the realm, and Ashei, who simply liked to attend their impromptu meetings for “moral support” and to get free beers, that would land him on the Queen’s list of suitors. It had never occurred to him that the Council would force her into marriage.

“Is that so?” Link said at last, trying to keep his voice even. He thought he was doing remarkably well at it too considering that he had just received news that the love of his life was going to be wed to a drunken philanderer who was obsessed with keys.

“Yeah!”  Matthew the Guard said excitedly, obviously enthused about having someone to gossip with. “In fact I heard from a guy who knows a guy that she has to announce her choice  _tonight_  or they’ll choose for her.”

Link jaw twitched. He'd never fainted before in his life, but he felt like he was about ready to start. “Tonight?” he said in a quiet voice. “They can’t do that can they? She’s the Queen, it should be her choice!”

“That may be true,” the first guard said, “but the future of Hyrule is everyone’s concern. What she ought to be doing now is focusing on finding the person who’ll father the Hyrule’s heir.”

“Here she comes now,” Matthew the Guard observed.

“Talk some sense into her,” the first guard muttered before the two of them snapped to attention and Link couldn’t get another word out of them.

He turned just as Zelda approached the doors, looking more tired than he had ever seen her but she perked up slightly when she saw him standing at her door. “Oh, Sir Link,” she said, referring to him by his title for the benefit of the two guards. “I’m so sorry! I entirely forgot that you were waiting here for me!”

Link refrained from commenting on her appearance or mentioning that she rarely forgot anything and instead dropped into a deep bow that seemed to amuse her. “Of course, Your Majesty, it’s quite alright. I live to serve,” he said in an overly officious voice.

Zelda quirked the barest of smiles at him. “Please give me a moment to freshen up, good sir. I’ll be with you presently,” she said, pushing open the door and disappearing into the darkness beyond.

The ill-humoured guard gave Link another one of his  _looks_  which Link studiously ignored. He was relieved when Zelda finally re-emerged from the cavernous room looking stunning in a dress of white and blue silk. Although the dress itself was quite simple Link always thought that Zelda looked beautiful in anything. And of course it showed of an astonishing amount of her décolletage, which Link kept finding his eyes drawn to despite his best efforts.

“Thank you for waiting,” she said graciously, offering him a small smile.

“It’s my pleasure, Majesty,” Link replied, extending his arm to her.

Zelda took it, winding her arm around his and setting off down the hall at a brisk trot. Link spared a last look for the two guards, both of whom were shooting him meaningful looks, before they turned the corner and vanished from sight. Zelda didn’t speak a word to him on the way to the dining room, which Link found disconcerting since their nightly walks through the labyrinthine halls of the castle were usually their only time to speak together in private.

“Something on your mind?” he asked and then immediately after he mentally kicked himself.  _Idiot,_  the thought, annoyed at his own inconsiderateness.  _She obviously has something on her mind. She probably just doesn’t want to think about it!_

“Oh, it’s nothing I’m just thinking about what we’ll have for dinner tonight,” Zelda replied airily, leaving Link feeling both relieved and disappointed. “I heard in passing that we’ll be having mushroom-stuffed quail. You know how much I love that.”

Link nodded and allowed himself to be lost in thought as a new silence settled over them. He wanted more than anything to confess his feelings to Zelda, to beg her not to marry Prince Louis or Prince Aleksandar or any of the others and to marry him instead although deep down he knew he couldn’t. She had no idea how he felt about her because he’d never bothered to stake a claim and it would be terribly unfair of him to complicate matters and make things even worse by suddenly confessing that he was in love with her especially since there was no way that could ever marry. Hero of Twilight or not he was still a goat herder with no wealth and no name who wasn’t even from Hyrule proper. The nobles would never accept the union.

Just as he had finally resigned himself to a night of getting himself extremely drunk, after which he would try his best to move on, Zelda turned to him and tightened her grip on his arm. “Link, can I ask you a question?” she said quietly.

“Sounds like you just did,” Link answered teasingly, knowing how much she hated that reply.

Zelda elbowed him in the ribs. “Be serious,” she said, although there was a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

“Alright, alright,” Link acquiesced. “Ask away.”

“How do you feel about me?” she asked.

Link struggled to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat and he turned to look Zelda in the eye, which required that he tilt his head since she was quite a bit taller than he was. “ _Truly?_ ” he asked nervously.

“Truly,” Zelda replied.

Oh brother. “We’re friends,” Link said after a long pause, although just saying it hurt his heart.

“Only friends?” Zelda replied, a little teasingly.

“Best friends,” Link said as sincerely as possible. “I’d give my life for you.”

Zelda immediately sobered up. “That’s good to know,” she said, with equal sincerity.

Link nodded and immediately picked up the pace, nearly dragging Zelda along after him. Zelda let out a little indignant noise but otherwise refrained from commenting on it and they both approached the huge double doors to the dining room in silence. Two of the four liveried guards at the door stepped forward and pushed the doors open wide to admit them. Link blinked rapidly, near blinded by the bright light refracted throughout the room by the massive tiered chandelier that hung in the centre of the room, iron arms reaching out in all directions like a giant metal octopus.

As usual, they were the last to arrive and everyone was already seated, making light conversation over their glasses of water. Link gaped at the sheer number of people in attendance. The normal assemblage of courtiers were all in attendance, seated appropriately according to their rank, as well as a collection of foreign ambassadors and ministers and every single one of Zelda’s suitors, excepting the ones who had stormed out in disgrace.

It was at that point that Zelda had to take her leave of Link. As Queen, she sat alone at the head of the table while he sat further down the table at his own set place. He resisted the urge to hold onto her when she extricated herself from his grasp. After tonight, he realised, Zelda would be spoken for, an engaged woman. Escorting her to dinner would soon become her husband’s job and they would lose what little time they had together as friends and, eventually she would forget about him and their friendship would deteriorate into the same sort of cordial-yet-business-like relationship as the one she shared with her maids. But he let her go, letting her take her seat at the table, knowing that after that night he would probably never touch her again.

He kept his eyes pointed at the wall as he made her way to his own seat, where a number of fine paintings by the master artists of different ages hung in gilded frames. One, he noticed, was of him in profile looking resplendent atop a rearing Epona against a backdrop of Twilight. Link blushed and looked away from it. Although the likeness was uncanny he didn’t remember ever posing for that one; Zelda must have gone and commissioned it behind his back.

The meal had already begun by the time he at last found his seat. Incidentally, when he had first been offered a position in the Queen’s court there had been a huge kerfuffle regarding what rank being the legendary Hero afforded him and whether his function was military or religious. To complicate matters both the Church and the army insisted that he, by rights, was one of them and refused to relinquish their hold on him. In the end, Zelda reasoned that the Church and the army could both have him if they wanted him so much but at the end of the day he was only beholden to the Crown. After that, the order of seating at the table had been rearranged so that Link found himself seated between the High Priest and the General of Hyrule’s military. That always made for some interesting dinner conversations since the two men held a deep hatred for one another and made potshots at each other at every available opportunity.

He looked wistfully at the head of the table, where Zelda was taking little dainty sips from her glass. Further down, all her suitors sat together in a group and although most of them didn’t seem too interested in the queen at the moment, the rest of them were looking her with poorly disguised lust and/or longing that made Link’s blood boil although he was acutely aware that he was doing exactly the same thing.   

Soon enough, the servers arrived with the soup. For some reason, in Hyrule Castle just eating one’s food altogether and going to bed wasn’t ‘fancy’ enough and the servers would instead bring in several courses of food, each of which could be considered a meal unto itself. Normally, they only brought four but if this dinner was as important as Link suspected it was it was going to be one of those ten-course days. Or worse. Try as he might, Link could never stomach more than a few courses and had to pick and choose which food he wanted to eat every night. Deciding he would save his appetite for the mushroom-stuffed quail that Zelda loved, he waved away the server when he came to fill his bowl with a delicious-smelling soup.

“Just wine, please,” he asked the confused-looking server.

“Sir Link, do you really think it’s proper to be drinking wine at this point?” the High Priest said in a tortured voice.

Link gave the High Priest a stormy look. What he actually meant was that he didn’t approve of Link drinking at all, although he was far too polite to say so. Usually, Link respected the High Priest’s wishes especially since he wasn’t exactly a ‘drinker’ to begin with but that particular night he really couldn’t care less. He wanted a drink and by the goddesses he was going to have it.

He stopped the server again before he could disappear. “Sorry, can I get something stronger instead?” he asked. The General burst out laughing, much to the annoyance of both Link and the High Priest. “Much stronger,” he added tiredly.

The server nodded and sent word to the kitchen for something strong Link to drink. A serving boy returned with an empty glass and a strangely shaped glass container of wine, which he poured for Link in a long, elegant stream.

“Thanks,” Link said, picking up the glass and taking a sip from it. He made a face immediately after. “Don’t you have anything harder than this?” he asked.

“Er…no sir,” the serving boy replied.

“I see,” Link said, plucking the oddly-shaped bottle from the serving boy’s hand, much to the High Priest’s displeasure. “Better leave this then.”

By the time Zelda began to tap her wine glass to get everyone’s attention Link was drunker than he had ever been in his life. Everyone turned to look at her curiously as she stood and stoically surveyed the assembled guests. Link’s gut churned with a mixture of anxiousness, distress and heartbreak. He downed his entire drink and asked for another.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough, Sir Hero?” the General said. Even he was sounding concerned now.

Link scowled at him and repeated his request to the server, who scurried away to fetch him another drink. The General thankfully backed off and the server returned with the drink just in time for Zelda’s address.

“Good evening, my most esteemed guests,” Zelda said with a small smile. “Thank you all for appearing in my home tonight. However, this night I haven’t summoned you all here only to enjoy good food and wine, and for the pleasure of your company.” Everyone laughed at that and Zelda fell silent while she waited for them to quiet down. “No, I have called you all here to make a very important announcement,” she said. “For many months now the Lords of the High Council have been encouraging me to marry so that I may find solace in companionship as well as someone who will make a good father to Hyrule’s heir, who will carry on the Harkinian legacy after I am gone. As a result I have been seeing several suitors over the course of the past few weeks in the hopes of finding a man who could be worthy of such an important responsibility. I have called you all here tonight to inform you that I believe I have at last found such a man.”

There was a murmur throughout the hall all the assembled began to make guesses. The suitors rubbed their hands together and preened, each sure that they would be the lucky man who would become the Queen’s betrothed. Link made a show of not paying attention and began pushing his food around the plate.

“The man I’ve decided to entrust my life, and the life of Hyrule’s future heir is very special to me. Never before in my life have I come across such a kind and honourable soul,” she said, biting her lip as her eyes swept over the assembled peerage, “Venerated guests, the man who I’ve chosen to marry, who will help me to usher in a new era of prosperity in Hyrule is none other than my protector and esteemed friend, the Hero of Twilight.”  


	2. Chapter 2

 

Silence reigned in the dining hall as dozens of pairs of eyes all turned to look at him with undisguised shock. Link, for his part, just sat there with his mouth hanging open, comprehending nothing. Surely the Queen hadn't just stated in front of everyone who was anyone that she wanted to marry him. They weren't even courting for Din's sake. _Oh, I see how it is,_ Link thought. _This is some kind of weird dream. My brain's playing a mean trick on me right now._

He remained in his seat and smiled pleasantly, waiting to wake up. It wasn't until the General, who had until then been staring at him with a dumbfounded expression, got up and hauled him to his feet did he snap out of his stupor.

"Get up there, she's waiting for you," the General said sternly, giving Link a firm shake and a shove in the right direction.

Link stumbled over his own feet for a moment before finding his footing and making his way slowly around the table to Zelda, feeling very acutely the burn of several dozen pairs of eyes upon him and trying his best not to act drunk. He finally made his way over to Zelda without stumbling or falling, which was quite a feat considering the sheer volume of alcohol that he had recently consumed.

Zelda turned to face him as he approached, smiling a shy, demure smile and extended her hand to him with a pleading look in her eyes, begging him to play along with her little scheme. For some reason he felt as though he might cry before he realised that crying would be the entirely wrong reaction in his current situation and that it was probably just the alcohol wreaking havoc on his emotions. After looking at her guardedly for a few moments, he relented. He had kept her waiting for long enough already and he could never say no to Zelda anyway. He took her proffered hand, intertwining his strong, calloused fingers with her slender, delicate ones and she raised both their hands above her head in a triumphant gesture.

"Esteemed guests," she cried, a brilliant smile on her face. "My betrothed and the future Prince of Hyrule!"

The dining hall erupted into loud, enthusiastic cries. The military men and lowborn members of the court jumped from their seats and cheered, those who were too highborn to make a scene in public applauded enthusiastically while still others, particularly Zelda's suitors, let out cries of outrage.

Zelda gave him a look out of the corner of her eye, prompting him to act. Link wasn't certain what exactly she meant for him to do but he hoped that she didn't expect him to speak. Instead, he did what would have come naturally to him if the love of his life had really just announced that she wanted to be with him and the entire marriage thing wasn't just a farce. He slipped his free arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

If the ballroom had been noisy before at Zelda's announcement now it was deafening. Lords, ladies and knights alike cheered, whooped and let out shrill whistles at the sight and while The High Priest simply shook his head at such a public display of debauchery and called down hellfire on all of them.

Zelda, dedicated until the end, dropped her hand actually kissed him back. The warmth and careful movement of her soft, pliant lips sent fire and lightning coursing through his veins until he felt as though he would suddenly combust if he didn't stop soon. The kiss would have gone on for entirely too long if someone hadn't tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and then, when Link pointedly ignored it, several hard, deliberate pokes. He reluctantly broke the kiss and Zelda pulled back slightly, her steely blue eyes wide with surprise and a light dusting of pink across her cheekbones but ultimately she gave no indication as to whether she had genuinely liked it or not. Link tried not to be too disappointed about that, particularly since he had enjoyed it immensely.

"Whaaaat?" Link demanded.

"Hello, Sir Link," a familiar voice said.

"Shad?" Link said, blinking with surprise at the sight of his friend's face. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on the guest list, I'll have you know," Shad explained, sounding mildly irritated, "but now I think that I ought to be leaving. In fact we _both_ ought to be leaving. My apologies, Your Majesty."

"Of course," Zelda replied with a polite nod, extricating herself from Link's hold on her waist and surrendering him to Shad's tender mercies.

"What? I don't want to leave, though," Link complained, his head lolling over to one side. "I'm having a great time. Who wants to see me juggle something?"

"You can show me outside," Shad said, taking Link by the arm in an attempt to lead him out of the hall.

Link jerked away like he'd been burned. "No, let go of me, damn it. I don't want to go to bed, I want to juggle!" he insisted, vaguely aware that he was shouting. Luckily the dining hall was in such a state of uproar that adding one more shouting voice to the general commotion in the room made little difference.

"No you don't, Link," Shad said firmly. "You really, really want to go to bed. You're very drunk."

Link made a face and then for no reason, laughed out loud. "You're right, I'm drunk," he acquiesced. "Take me home."

Link raised a limp wrist in Shad's direction and Shad latched onto it with a vice-like hold before bodily dragging him from the room. Link blew a kiss in Zelda's direction as he was taken away and she made a show of pretending to catch it and tuck it into the bodice of her dress for the benefit of their audience, which made Link go warm all over. He also spared a wink and a cheeky grin for Zelda's suitors when Shad carried him past them. One of them shot him a murderous glare but refrained from doing anything, most likely due to the presence of the Queen. Link found that somewhat disappointing because he really felt like fighting someone just now.

By the time Shad managed to get them both to the huge double doors that led back into the safety of the castle halls, however, he was feeling decidedly ill. Both his head and his stomach were spinning dangerously and the guards at the doors were moving far too slowly for his liking. The exact second there was a space wide enough for him to fit his body through he broke free from Shad's grip and wriggled through the chink in the doors. Shad cried out in alarm and followed, squeezing through the same small space and bidding the guards to close the doors quickly. The doors swung closed behind him just in time to spare the guests the sight of the Queen's betrothed throwing up into a tall vase that had been minding its own business directly outside the doors.

"Ugh, Link, how could you?" Shad complained. "That cameo glass vase predates Hyrulean civilisation by several thousand years."

"Sorry," Link muttered when Shad came to help him up, trying to remove himself from his intimate embrace the vase without toppling it or himself. "I'll clean it up in a second. I—"

His next thought was lost when he let his grip on the vase falter he and cracked his head on the marble tiles of the castle floor, knocking himself out.

* * *

Link awoke the next morning in his own bed, his hands fisted in the fabric of his silk quilt. It was, perforce, green like nearly everything else he owned now. Ever since he had accepted his great-great-grandfather's mantle by stepping up as the hero of his time it seemed that he was destined to be seen in nothing but green for the rest of his life, even after he'd retired the Hero's clothes.

He sat up, clutching his head as he tried to recall the events of the previous night but came up blank. It was as though a pit had suddenly opened up in his head and the events of the dinner party had simply fallen into it and only the hole was left behind, a distinct knowledge of something that had been forgotten.

 _Never again,_ Link thought. He threw himself back onto the mattress, held a pillow over his face to protect his aching head from the rays of sunlight streaming through a chink in the velvet curtains and vowed to sleep the rest of his life away. Before he could slip back into the merciful embrace of sleep someone began to knock very loudly and deliberately on his door. To Link, each knock shook the world like cannon fire.

"Go away," he called, pulling the comforter up over his head. "I'm naked."

The door opened anyway and the sharp, inquisitive face of Shad peered in. "There you are!" he said. "I tried to bring you back here last night but you got away from me and I've been looking for you all morning! Have you any idea what time it is? Next time you're going to drink, warn me. You're an extremely disagreeable drunk. Very twisty."

"What?" Link grumbled.

"We're going to Telma's," Shad said, grabbing Link's exposed wrist and hauling him out of bed. "Come on now, don't be lazy! Ashei and Telma are waiting for us!"

Link looked down at himself, ready to protest that he was in no state to go out and unwilling to get dressed, only to find that he was still wearing the green silk doublet he had been wearing the previous night which was only slightly wrinkled. Thankfully, he had at least had the wherewithal to take off his boots, which were arranged neatly at the foot of the bed.

"And of course, I'm sure Telma can fix you something for that hangover," Shad reasoned, adjusting his spectacles. "Yes, I'm sure she's seen plenty of cases like yours and she'll see many more in the future. I hear she has a miracle, fool-proof cure. Not that I need it, of course, since I don't drink—alcohol kills too many brain cells—but I do make it my business to know everything."

"Shad?" Link groaned, holding his head.

"What is it?" Shad inquired.

"No talking," Link said shortly, pulling on his boots.

"Ah, yes of course," Shad said, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry."

Shad had to escort him out of his quarters and down the hall since Link had flat-out refused to venture past the door without something over his face to blot out the morning sunlight. He imagined he must make a pretty picture, stumbling through the hall with his arm interlocked with Shad's and an embroidered pillowcase over his head so, naturally, that was the state someone happened to find him in, if the unmistakeable sound of rapidly approaching footsteps was any indication.

"Oh, Shad it's you," Zelda's voice said. "Is that Link under there?"

"Good morning, Your Majesty," Shad said quickly. Although Zelda was on familiar terms with Link and the other members of the Resistance, Shad was the only one who still referred to her by her title in informal situations. Old habits died hard, Link supposed.

Link reluctantly pulled the pillowcase off his head. "Morning," he said sheepishly. "Did you need to talk to me?"

"Yes, actually," Zelda said. "It's about last night."

Link swallowed thickly. He hardly remembered what transpired last night himself and was more than certain that he wouldn't be able to account for whatever drunken, debaucherous act he had stupidly engaged in. He elbowed Shad in the ribs to urge him to take him away but Shad, the traitor, merely gave him a long-suffering look and asked, "Do you two need a moment?"

"Not at all. I'd just like to apologise for what I did," Zelda said sincerely. "The Council put me under so much pressure and I didn't know what to do. I hope you'll forgive me and, unfair as it is to ask this of you, I hope you'll consider taking me up on my offer."

Link was about to ask her what she was talking about when Shad interposed himself between the two of them, blocking Zelda from his view. "He doesn't quite remember what happened last night, Your Majesty," he whispered. "I'm taking him down to Telma's now to get him up to speed."

Zelda's eyes flicked nervously between the two of them. "Ah. In that case, would you like me to send for a carriage to take the two of you to Telma's in light of Link's…condition?" she offered.

"No need," Shad said. "I've already hired a covered carriage. It's waiting for us at the door."

"I see," she said, her gaze lingering on Link as she returned to her room and closed the door without a word. "Good luck then."

Link frowned as he leaned against Shad for support. "What happened last night?" he asked, pulling the pillowcase back down over his head.

Shad chuckled darkly. "What didn't happen?"

The moment Link slipped through the decorated metal door into the Telma's bar Ashei lunged at him, locking her arm around his neck. Shad gave a little squeak of alarm and narrowly avoided being bowled over when Link staggered backward, thrown off balance by the force of the collision.

"Link, you sorry son-of-a-gun," Ashei crowed, giving him a good shaking. "You've had Zelda under your thumb all this time and you didn't tell us!"

"What?" Link asked, managing to push her off him, which was no easy feat in his current state. The woman had an iron grip, and not just because of the peculiar heavy mail she wore on both arms, which Link noticed were covered in fresh blood and monster ichor.

"What do you mean 'what'?" Ashei demanded. "You know very well what's what!"

"Leave him alone, Ashei, he doesn't remember," Shad chided.

"Oh really?" Ashei said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. "Well allow me to—"

"No, absolutely not," Shad insisted. "Not before we get some of Telma's cure in him, at least. Telma, a tall glass of your finest cure please."

"Sure thing, sweetheart," Telma said just before she disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a glass of something bright red. "Drink up," she said, plunking it down in front of him.

Link took a sniff of it. "Smells dangerous," he said, pushing it away. "What's in it?"

"Sorry, trade secret," Telma said with a shrug.

Link gingerly took up the glass, noting the curious, almost excited, looks on the faces of his companions. and, after a moment of swirling it around in the glass suspiciously, chugged the whole thing. His headache cleared immediately, as did his sinuses and Shad and Ashei gave him the full story about the events of the previous night while he waited for the intense and painful burning to go away.

To their credit, they did it with only minimal infighting although they did scuffle a bit over who would be the one doing the actual storytelling. Shad thought that he ought to be the sole narrator since he was the one who had actually been present at the event and would therefore be able to provide the truest account. Ashei, on the other hand, insisted that Shad's version of the story lacked showmanship and would put everyone to sleep and that she should be the one to tell it.

They were unable to agree on the exact details of what had happened as well, it seemed. Ashei insisted that Zelda's announcement had been accompanied by fireworks while Shad countered that there had been no fireworks at all and that Zelda would never do anything so crass. Conversely, his claim that Zelda's suitors had taken the rejection rather well was immediately refuted by Ashei who swore that she had seen one of them fuming and sulking around the castle grounds. The only thing they could both agree on was that he had planted a kiss on Zelda in front of everybody and that it had been a sight to behold.

Shad also mentioned that after he had knocked himself out on the floor and had been taken to his room he had vanished entirely for several hours between then and when Shad had come to collect him. Link decided not to dwell on that too much, since there was no-one who could provide an account of what he had been doing during that time anyway and instead considered the matter of Zelda's proposal, worrying at his lip and drumming his fingers on Telma's countertop.

"I can't go through with it," he said.

"Can't go through with what?" Ashei said distrustfully.

"The marriage, of course," Link replied. "I can't marry her."

Shad, Ashei and Telma all regarded Link in stunned silence. Shad pressed his palm to Link's forehead and then took it away, shaking his head sorrowfully. "He's delirious," he pronounced. "Ashei, do slap some sense into him."

"With pleasure," Ashei said, jumping up from her bar stool and cracking her knuckles threateningly as she advanced on him.

"Ashei, don't—" Link began but Ashei backhanded him across the face before he could get the words out.

"There, are you feeling more sensible now?" Shad asked.

"No!" Link replied rubbing his stinging cheek.

"I could hit him again," Ashei offered, flexing her fingers. The mail links clinked together threateningly.

"Link, please excuse the following insult, but have you gone completely mad?" Shad asked him. "The woman you've been pining after for the greater part of two years has offered you her hand in marriage and you're saying you can't go through with it?"

"None of you understand my situation," Link snapped, getting up from his chair so quickly that it toppled over. Link paused in his tirade and set the chair to rights before continuing in a softer, sadder voice. "She doesn't really love me except as a friend. A best friend, admittedly, but just a friend all the same. She just chose me so that she wouldn't have to marry a bad-tempered jerk with a receding hairline."

No-one seemed to know what to answer to that. "How do you know she doesn't love you?" Telma pressed.

Link shrugged. "I just know," he replied. "You just know sometimes."

"Well, perhaps this would be an opportune moment to tell her how you feel about her," Shad suggested, garnering little noises of approval from Ashei and Telma.

"I couldn't," Link said. "She'd think I was pathetic."

"That's because you _are_ pathetic," Ashei said with a groan.

Shad gave her a disapproving look. "Ashei, you're not helping."

"I'm just telling it like it is," Ashei argued.

"Not helping."

Ashei brushed him off and turned to Link instead, imploringly. "Listen, Link. I like you a lot, you're a man after my own heart and I don't want to tell you what to do or anything but listen good and hard, yeah? She asked you to marry her, regardless of her motives, so that means that she must at least feel _something_ for you. More than what she feels for any of those cockamamie bastards, anyway. I don't see what harm telling her you love her could possibly do at this point, so you might as well just tell her."

Link bit his lip and Ashei, picking up on his weakness, groaned and gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "Come on, you. Does that flashy triangle on the back of your hand actually do something or is it just for show?"

Link twisted his face into a grimace. "Fine, I'll do it. Stop needling me," he said at last. His three companions cheered and clapped him on the back, even Shad who normally wasn't given to such displays.

"Do you need a ride back to Hyrule Castle?" Shad said graciously. "The carriage is all yours if you want it."

Link shook his head. "I think it would be better if I walked," he replied. "Some fresh air might do me some good."

"You better do it, Link," Ashei called after him as he eased himself out the door. "I'll know if you don't. My eyes see everything that goes on in this town."

A brisk walk through Castle Town turned out to be just what Link needed to get his head on straight. He'd removed his green doublet soon after he left the bar, leaving him in only his white shirt, soft black pants and boots. In his experience so long as he didn't wear green and kept the marking on the back of his hand concealed no-one ever recognised him and he could wander around unimpeded. He decided that he might think about looking into a disguise for Zelda as well. An anonymous trip around Castle Town might be just what she needed to soothe her nerves.

Upon returning to the castle he immediately set about finding Zelda although he hadn't the slightest idea where he might find her. Although he had been living in Hyrule Castle for nearly two years he rarely strayed off the beaten path and ventured into the more obscure corridors, which was normally where Zelda could be found. Usually, he just sat in one spot and waited for her to come to him but today he was determined to find her and waiting around just would not do.

He spied Lady Byrna, one of Zelda's ladies-in-waiting, whose usual job was pinning and braiding Zelda's hair into elaborate styles, wandering in the courtyard and admiring the white roses. She was a trustworthy woman, if a bit nosy, and therefore was most like to know where he could find Zelda.

He hurried over to her and explained his plight before she could escape. "I'm looking for the Queen," he said simply. "Do you know where I can find her?"

"Oh, Sir Hero it's you!" Lady Byrna said, clapping her hands in delight. "My congratulations on your recent engagement."

"Thanks," Link replied. "Now, the Queen?"

"Imagine what a surprise it was to all of us!" Lady Byrna continued, cooling the excited blush in her cheeks with a lace fan that she produced from nowhere. "The Queen and the legendary Hero, oh it's like something out of fairy tale! Of course, in the stories the queen in usually a princess and her knight in shining armour is usually a tad less…" she glanced at Link over her fan. "Scruffy. But still! Yours will be the wedding of the decade, Sir Link—no, no the century!"

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it," Link said, not entirely untruthfully. "Now please, can you tell me where the Queen is? I need to talk to her."

"Making honeymoon plans already, eh, Sir Link?" Lady Byrna said, fluttering that ridiculous lace fan of hers again. "Oh, you naughty thing you!"

"My lady…" Link said patiently.

"There you are, Sir Link," a new voice said, coming to his rescue. His saviour was yet another of Zelda's ladies-in-waiting, Lady Cox who, very unlike Lady Byrna, was famous for her sternness and no-nonsense attitude. "You're to report to the Queen's study at once. Her Majesty's been looking everywhere for you."


	3. Chapter 3

Zelda may have asked to see him at his earliest possible convenience (which Link had come to learn was just castle slang for 'right this second') but Lady Cox had refused to let him so much as approach her study until he had cleaned himself up and dressed appropriately in his 'work clothes'. That was fair enough, he supposed, since he had only just returned from Telma's and still had a distinctly drunk look about him but he couldn't help but think of his life back in Ordon where his work clothes had consisted of whatever was clean and comfortable at the time.

In the Hyrule Castle people had a different idea of what sort of thing was appropriate for 'working' in but that was probably because most of them didn't spend the day wrestling goats. At the castle, he did a lot of things, mostly military, and that sort of work required a uniform. It had already been decided for him that his new 'uniform' would be the now-iconic green tunic. Unfortunately, that tunic had long since disappeared, leaving his old clothes behind in their place. He'd never told anyone about that since it was just too ridiculous to be believed and insisted that he just was retiring the old clothes because he didn't want them to take any more of a beating than they had already. Zelda, bless her soul, had gotten him a new green outfit to replace it.

The new outfit very similar to the old one, consisting of the same green tunic, white undershirt and bronze mail except the fabric was a bit finer, the mail and pants a bit more sturdy and the boots fitted with heavy metal studs that gave him a little more traction, a little extra 'kick' and clicked smartly on the castle floors when he walked. For decorative purposes, new tunic also came with bronze pauldrons and vambraces as well as a matching chest piece with the Royal Family's crest emblazoned on it. He thought that it bore a striking resemblance to the ornamental armour Zelda donned with her ceremonial wear and the two of them made quite a pair when they walked together. He'd pointed that out to her but had received only a coy smile and no answer.

Luckily, the more decorative armoured parts of the uniform were only for when he was going to be seen with Zelda and needed to look extra sharp. His second job of whipping the trainees and officers into fighting form so that they wouldn't be quite so defenceless against the next evil army that decided to raid their borders wasn't quite so formal so he got to dress down. On those days he wore the plain green tunic or in the uniform traditionally worn by officers in the Hyrulean army if he didn't feel like standing out in a crowd.

He also got to wear the green tunic for the third part of his job, which was much harder than the other two but was also what he had more or less become accustomed to which was tracking down monsters and slaying them for Queen and country. Although he reckoned he'd probably seen the most monstrous of the bunch while in pursuit of the usurpers Zant and Ganondorf, it had also been just the very tip of the iceberg. Monsters multiplied like rats in the deep caves and crevices of Hyrule, slithering all over and terrorising rural villages like his.

Some of these monsters would be halfway intelligent, capable of rational thought and even speech. These he left alone, so long as they promised to stop causing trouble. Most of the others, though, were simply mindless monsters that needed to be put down and still others were giant, mechanical bulls that shot lightning from their mouths. He'd never figured out where all the mechanical bulls were coming from but carrying them up to Death Mountain to be melted down and reworked was more trouble than it was worth.

Lady Cox gave him a quick once-over and, after showing that she approved of his clothing by turning her nose up slightly at him, began leading the way to Zelda's study. She refused to make small talk with him as they walked. Lady Cox detested small talk and the only time she engaged in it was to mention that she thought it was a waste of time. Luckily he didn't have to be in her presence for long since Zelda's study was in the same wing of the castle that his sleeping quarters were in. It was the only section of the building that had been entirely restored after it had unfortunately exploded in the final battle with Ganondorf and was therefore the only section that was peaceful and free of the loud noises made by the Goron builders who were working double time to reconstruct the rest of it.

The hall outside Zelda's study was usually empty since no-one ever approached unless they had been asked for but today he found it occupied by a gaggle of Zelda's younger ladies-in-waiting, seemingly practising needlepoint. Link was suspicious of them anyway. He had long since realised that practising needlepoint was usually nothing more than a cover-up for gossip and espionage.

 _They must have known I was coming,_ he thought, noticing that they had brought a bench into the previously unfurnished antechamber with them and that they had made themselves comfortable on it. Their heads collectively swung in his direction when he and Lady Cox approached them. The ones among them who were inclined to giggle, which was most of, if not all of them, began to do so until Lady Cox speared them with a severe look.

"Her Majesty's study, Sir Link," Lady Cox said, indicating the high, pointed arch of the door that lead to Zelda's study.

"Thanks," Link said, keeping a watchful eye on the ladies over Lady Cox's shoulder. He had no idea how they had known to expect him but there was no doubt in his mind that they had come to ply him with questions about the engagement. "Can I go in?"

"Her Majesty will send for you when you have her leave to enter, Sir Link," Lady Cox replied, as though such a thing should be obvious.

"Hasn't she already sent for me though?" Link asked.

Lady Cox, who apparently could not be bothered to dignify his question with an answer, respectfully bowed out, leaving Link the run of the place. With the saturnine presence of Lady Cox safely out of the picture the women's eyes instantly turned to him. Link looked out the window and tried to act as though he hadn't seen them but they had already smelled his weakness and pounced on him.

"For just how long have you and Her Majesty been courting, Sir Link?"

"Did you see each other in secret? I think that's terribly romantic."

"Will you be having a summer wedding, Sir Link, or are you more partial to spring? Oh, but summer is almost here anyway so perhaps it would be better to wait for spring. The castle gardens are so beautiful at that time of year!"

Link, already resolved to say nothing, did what he did best and kept his mouth shut, fighting his way out of the pack of women and taking up a spot on one of the wrought iron benches that adorned the hall. The ladies tittered when he drew his sword, also a gift from Zelda to replace the Master Sword, from his belt and began to polish it, hoping that they would decide that he was busy and leave him alone. It hardly needed the polishing, though, since he always made sure to keep the blade perfectly spotless and razor sharp. Monster ichor could damage a blade something awful.

Finding him entirely unforthcoming regarding the subject of his recent engagement, the women grew bored with him and left him be. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for their conversation to turn to the subject that was on everyone's mind: his relationship with Zelda.

"How do you think he managed it?" one of them asked. "Capturing the heart of the Queen I mean."

She was trying to be discreet and keep her voice down but nothing they said escaped Link's attention. His sharp ears could discern each and every word, even from all the way across the room. The fact that they kept stopping their conversation to sneak glances at him did not help.

"Do you want to know what I heard?" another woman put in. "I heard that Her Majesty have actually been studying astronomy with Sir Link all this time. Maybe he's just very talented in that arena and she didn't want to let him go."

"I didn't know Sir Link cared about astronomy," remarked one of the ladies, whose striking features and strong, hooked nose could only make her Lady Cox's daughter.

She was the daughter of the formidable Lady Cox, and although she wasn't actually one of Zelda's ladies she could often be found in their company. She was also apparently as green as grass. The other girls tittered at her expense and hazarded a glance at Link, unabashedly sizing him up. Link ducked his head to hide his reddening cheeks and focused on polishing his sword.

"Him? But he's so quiet!"

"You never know. Sometimes it's the quiet ones that surprise you."

"You don't think the Queen would ever do something so scandalous as taking the legendary Hero as her lover, do you?"

"Try to think a little, Lady Burke. Her Majesty named him her Champion and personal protector. Why do you think she did that?"

Link, if possible, went even redder and redoubled his efforts at polishing the sword in an attempt to divert his attention from the things that were being said about him. That was how Zelda found him when she opened the door to her study, red faced and sweating nervously and giving the sword in his lap far too vigorous a polishing. Link jumped up when he saw her and snapped to attention. "Zel—er, I mean," he faltered, unsure of what he should call her in public now that they were engaged. " _Your Majesty_. Thanks for having me."

Zelda frowned at him but all she did was gesture at the open door and say, "I'm sorry I made you wait. Do come in, Sir Link."

Link entered, grateful to be out of the reach of the gossipy women and their innuendos, took a seat on one of Zelda's stiff, high-backed chairs and tried to make himself comfortable.

"So, Link," she said, biting her lip out of nervousness as she took a seat herself. When they were in public her every move was carefully calculated and choreographed to bring about an intended effect. Instinctive, involuntary actions and nervous tics had been drilled out of her long ago. She would never dare to show nervousness in front of her council, only he got to see that. "What do you think of my proposition?"

"Um," Link said, having been too caught up waxing poetic about her expression to listen to what she was saying.

"Link, please try to pay attention," Zelda admonished.

"I am!" he said.

"I'm asking if you've thought of accepting my proposal," she said. "You know, of marriage."

Link wet his lips nervously. He'd been wondering exactly how he would confess his love for Zelda and it seemed that as good an opportunity as any was being presented to him. It would be simple for him to say something like "Of course I'll marry you, Zelda. I love you" or "There's no-one I would rather marry than you" and just get it out in the open. The words could come so easily if he could bring himself to say them but when he opened his mouth to say them they caught in his throat and choked him.

"You know I'd never leave you to get married to one of those royal bastards," he said instead, smiling as though all was right with the world, even while he was mentally kicking himself in the head. _Because I love you,_ he thought. _Say it._ But he continued smiling until his cheeks hurt.

Zelda smiled back at him. "Thank you, Link," she said, touching her palm to his cheek and he couldn't help but lean into it because he was desperate and pathetic. "You don't how much this means to me."

He managed to flash her a wry smile. "I think I have an idea," he said.

"So," he said, trying to change the subject. "This new gig of mine, what exactly would I have to do?"

"I hardly think that being Prince Consort of Hyrule is a 'gig', Link," Zelda replied, although with a note of humour in her voice.

Link shrugged. "Well?"

"May I be candid with you, Link?" Zelda said, biting her lip thoughtfully.

"I never stopped you before," Link said.

"That's true," Zelda replied. "Well, let me begin by saying that in Hyrule, the divine law states that only Hyrule's heir can ascend the throne so you won't be asked to take over the responsibility of ruling the country now or in the future, should anything happen to me. The consort's duty as I understand it is to, well, help produce that heir. The new heir, I mean."

Link raised his eyebrows when Zelda immediately dropped her eyes from his. A cheeky comment hovered on the tip of his tongue before he decided that all this talk about producing an heir with him must have her embarrassed enough without his added teasing. Besides, he'd gladly produce a hundred heirs with her if she wanted to.

Instead he reclined in his chair, or at least tried to, and playfully said, "Finally a job where I can just rest on my laurels and rely on my good looks."

"That should be easy for you," she said, recovering from her embarrassment. "You already excel at being good-looking. But don't you dare think that you're going to have an easy time of it. You'll need training, and a great deal of it, before you'll be ready to appear by my side in your new capacity as consort."

He blinked in surprise. "Training?" he wondered, his hand involuntarily going to the sword at his belt.

"Not that sort of training," Zelda said, lowering his hand. "If you're to become my consort you're going to need a bit of polish. Nothing too difficult, of course, just etiquette and dancing and politics and things of that nature. Oh, and diction. Let's not forget that."

Link put a hand to his throat. He'd assumed that he'd lost his hick accent ages ago but apparently that wasn't the case. "I know how to dance," he protested, carefully modulating his voice.

Zelda actually laughed at that. "No offense, Link, but I've seen you dance before and you're quite terrible," she said. "You'll need to do better than that if you want to make it in politics. Much better. Like I said, there's a lot for you to learn and not a long time to do it."

Link drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, brows knitted together in concentration. "Well, can I at least get a little teaser of what I'm going to be learning?" he said.

"Alright, let me think," Zelda said, taking a moment to do just that. "Well for starters you must never say 'thanks' again."

Link was confused. "You want me to stop thanking people?"

"No, of course you need to thank people, but you just need to stop saying 'thanks'. It's not dignified at all," Zelda admonished. "We always say 'thank you', never 'thanks'."

Link frowned. "I had no idea I was so unmannerly," he said.

"Oh, Link, don't be that way. You know how much I love your little quirks and rough manners," Zelda said. Link tried not to get too excited at the word 'love' but his wayward heart betrayed him and started beating double time anyway. "But not everyone is so…forgiving."

"Forgiving of what exactly?" Link said.

Zelda bit her lip. "I was getting to that," she said.

Link cocked his head. "They don't like me do they?" he said. "The Council doesn't approve of the match."

"Oh, no Link, don't be ridiculous! They love you!" Zelda said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Link narrowed his eyes at her. He might not know much about the political structure of Hyrule but he knew enough to know that only the Royal Council had enough power to even think about telling Zelda what to do.

"Well, I most of them do," she corrected herself. "Although there are some members of the Council who believe that, despite your obvious achievements and service to Hyrule, that your common blood would…taint the royal bloodline."

Link was taken aback. "Unbelievable," he said bitterly. "And what did you tell them?"

Zelda bit her lip.

"You didn't even speak in my defence?" he demanded. He was being a bit unfair to her, he knew. She couldn't exactly have told the Council that he didn't have common blood but it seemed totally unjust that he was not only breaking his own heart to help her but that he had to fight the Council for the right to do it.

"Well I'm very sorry, Link," Zelda said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "What would you have me say?"

 _That you want me,_ Link thought miserably. _That you'd still be marrying me even if your other options were halfway viable._ Instead he said, "I don't know."

Zelda was silent, the look on her face apologetic. She rose from her spot and squeezed into the high backed chair with him. There was not a lot of room for her since the chair's maker had only foreseen it seating one occupant and her face was only inches away from his, close enough for her to hear his heart beating, fluttering about in his chest like a little frightened bird, close enough that for him feel her warm breath tickling his face when she touched her forehead to his and said, "I really am sorry, though. I know I'm asking a lot of you."

Link closed his eyes to shut out the image of her face. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry too, for getting mad. There's probably nothing you could have done." To his surprise Zelda didn't move, remaining curled against him in the too-small armchair. Here was his chance, being handed to him on a silver platter for the second time that day. "Can I ask you something?"

Zelda smiled at him. "I never stopped you before," she said, expertly volleying his own words back at him.

Link managed a weak laugh at that. "That's true," he began, uncertainly. "Well Zelda, It's just that I…"

"Yes?" Zelda prompted.

Link's jaw twitched. "Um, nothing. It's just something dumb Ashei said. Don't worry about it." Link said, abruptly getting up and brushing imaginary dust off his pants. "And speaking of Ashei I was supposed to meet her down by the barracks ages ago. I have some rookie balls to bust."

If Zelda was offended by his choice of words she didn't let on, instead she gave a small smile and looked at her hands as Link crossed the room to the door then, suddenly, she said, "Link, wait!"

Link froze with his hand on the doorknob. "Yeah?"

Zelda bit her lip. "Be sure to bust some for me as well," was all she said.

"Will do, Your Majesty," he said, opening the door.

Several of Zelda's ladies fell into the room in a disorderly pile of silk and petticoats, screeching in outrage at the indignity of it all. Link apologetically picked his way through the eavesdroppers, making sure to avert his eyes from their undergarments, and escaped into the hall.

 _What the hell, Link? What was that all about?_ Link thought, snatching his hat off. He'd never felt so helpless before and it was immensely frustrating. _Something dumb Ashei said? That was so stupid. Smooth moves, Mr. Hero. Very brave._

"Link!" Zelda's voice called and then suddenly she was in the hallway behind him.

Link paused mid-step and slowly turned, wondering how much of his mental tirade she had witnessed.

"Are you sure you weren't going to tell me something?" she said.

She was looking at him expectantly and perhaps a bit hopefully. Three times, that made three times in the same day that he'd been given the chance to confess. If that wasn't a sign from the goddesses he didn't know what was. He dug his heels in, summoned his courage and grabbed the opportunity with both hands. It was now or never.

"Yes," he said decisively, gripping her by the arms perhaps a bit too tightly but Zelda didn't wince or try to escape his hold. "Zelda I have something to tell you and I've wanted to tell you this for a long time now."

A voice drifted in from the end of the hall, cutting off his next thought. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the lovely young Queen."

Link reluctantly broke apart from Zelda and turned to source of the voice, unable to believe his bad luck. The unwelcome intruder was wearing a dark velvet cape so long that the hem of it nearly trailed on the ground and although he wore no crown he carried himself with a distinct regal bearing. Link scowled, realising that he wouldn't be able to do anything about him interrupting his big announcement.

"And I know you," the interloper said, his eyes going to Link immediately. "You're the legendary Hero of Twilight, aren't you?"

The man had him at a bit of a disadvantage, since he had no idea what his name was, especially since those of the royal persuasion seemed to expect that people would know their names without prior introduction and offended if you didn't automatically know who they were. Royals, with the notable exception of Zelda herself, were some of his least favourite people mostly because simply being in their presence required navigating a labyrinth of protocol that he had only just begun to grasp. The only reason he hadn't yet caused an international incident was because being the hero of legend lent him a certain degree of immunity and because most of Zelda's suitors were fairly low in the royal pecking order.

Thankfully, Zelda took pity on his predicament and came to his rescue. "Link, this is Prince Alastair of Holodrum, one of my suitors." Zelda explained and then to the Prince she added. "And it seems you've already met my champion, the Hero of Twilight, Your Highness."

"Well, I've never met him in person before today," the Prince said loftily, "but I'm very pleased to meet his acquaintance."

Link suddenly remembered his manners and dropped into a low bow, trying not to give the Prince what he might perceive as a suspicious look as he did so. Prince Alastair was the only one of Zelda's suitors who Link knew nothing about, which was odd. Usually, when Zelda told him about her suitors she described their repugnance to him in vivid, unflattering detail, complete with little funny anecdotes about their strange behaviour. Even if they were boring she still managed to relate their boringness in a funny and entertaining way but when he'd asked about Prince Alastair she had thought about it for a moment and then responded with "He was a bit peculiar" and nothing else.

"Ex-suitors," the Prince supplied, without rancour. "Though, to be honest, if I'd known you were in the running from the beginning, Sir Hero, I would never have bothered. I can hardly compete with a legend. Although I'll admit I expected that the man who single-handedly saved Hyrule from destruction would be a little bit taller."

 _Oh, like I've never heard that one before_ , Link thought drily, attempting measuring himself up to the Prince.

"Anyway, I suppose in the end the better man won right?"

Link kept his mouth shut. He might not have been as versed in the ways of etiquette as Zelda and the Council might have liked but even he knew better than to fall for something like that. Seeing that he had refused to take the bait the Prince decided to change the topic.

"Wait," the Prince said, as though suddenly observing how close together Link and Zelda were standing. "Am I interrupting something between you two lovebirds?"

Zelda took a hasty step away from Link and quickly told him that he certainly wasn't interrupting anything of importance and Link clamped his mouth shut on the retort of "Yes we are, please leave" that was tingling on his tongue.

"Oh, good," Prince Alastair said. "It's just that I saw the two of you from afar and I didn't want to lose out on my chance to cross swords with the Hero of Hyrule."

Link cocked his head to the side. "Are you challenging me to a duel, Your Highness?" he asked.

"No, of course not," the Prince replied. "Just a friendly sparring match between soldiers."

Link looked to Zelda in askance but she neither looked at him nor attempted to intervene so it seemed as though she was placing the ball in his court this time. Although he would have liked nothing better than to throttle one of Zelda's pompous, highborn suitors he wasn't exactly eager to put himself into a situation where a man who could potentially be jealous of him could easily kill him and just as easily make it look like an accident.

On the other hand there was no way for him to refuse a challenge to duel (because that's what it was, regardless of what pretty words he dressed it up in) from a man of Prince Alastair's rank without offending him, and there was certainly no way he was going to refuse in front of Zelda.

"Of course, Your Highness," he said. "Name the time and place."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pro tip: guys who start sentences with 'well, well, well' are bad news and should be avoided at all costs. This is totally unsubstantiated advice from an anonymous person on the internet, so you know you can trust it!
> 
> Also, sorry about the formatting. I usually do all my formatting in HTML and for some reason this time it just...didn't take. Once again, really sorry about that. I can only imagine what sort of horrors your eyes must have been subjected to before I noticed that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'd like to take this author not to say that I'm sorry about the formatting. I usually do all my formatting in HTML and for some reason this time it just...didn't take and the whole thing turned into an illegible mess. Once again, really sorry about that. I can only imagine what sort of horrors your eyes must have been subjected to before I noticed that.

Link marched from the barracks and out into to the courtyard where the trainees he had been assigned to were waiting for him. They all stood at attention at once and collectively snapped off a sharp salute at him which he returned, looking nowhere near as awkward as he felt. No matter how many times people saluted him still felt odd that anyone was showing respect to someone from such humble beginnings but he also knew that it was important that he not show weakness in front of the soldiers.

Rusl, who had been a soldier and an officer himself, had warned him that he had to keep a tight leash on the trainees if he wanted to earn and keep their respect so Link made a point to be as stern with them as possible. Although it felt odd to be so domineering it seemed to be working because none of them had ever tried cross him. Nevertheless, as he put the trainees to work beating the straw out of a collection of practise dummies and began weaving his way among them, ducking under the wildly waving swords and flailing limbs to offer the trainees pointers, he couldn't help but wonder how he would handle people bowing to him and calling him "Prince Link" and "Your Highness" if mere salutes made him uncomfortable.

Just before he called the trainees to attention to dismiss them a shadow flitting at the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned his head and caught sight of Ashei lurking behind the white columns bordering the walkways that formed a bridge between the different wings of the castle. She was moving remarkably quietly for someone in armour but he supposed she'd had a lot more practise at it than the average person. No matter how much Ashei dressed down she was never without armour. Link found that a bit odd but he hadn't yet summoned the gall to try and open that particular basket of adders. She sent a little nod his way once she saw him looking at her, signifying that she wanted to talk to him and he nodded his understanding before calling her over with a wave of his hand.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, looking behind him to see if the trainees had taken note of his visitor but they were all too focused on the task at hand to pay him any mind. "I was just getting ready to get out of here."

"Everything's fine, don't worry about me," Ashei said, waving away his questions. "Now let's dispense with the pleasantries and get to the meat of this thing, yeah? Did you tell her?"

Link arched an eyebrow at her bluntness. Ashei was nothing if not direct. "You've been a strange interest in my romantic life lately," he said tartly. "You're not jealous of me are you?"

"Get bent, Link," Ashei replied and then, unable to disguise her curiosity she added. "Well?"

Link ignored her and instead told the trainees to leave off beating up the dummies and to form ranks to be inspected before dismissal. Ashei trailed after him as he wove in and out of the lines, staring him down the whole time.

"Would you leave off?" Link hissed. "I'm working."

Ashei didn't relent. " _Well?_ " she pressed.

Link made his way back to the advance position and nodded his approval to the trainees. "Very good," he said. "You're all dismissed."

Only once the trainees had saluted him and marched out of the courtyard and back to the barracks did he turn to Ashei, who looked supremely annoyed with him.

"Did you tell her or not?" she demanded.

Link sighed. "Not."

Ashei gave him a disgusted look. "What the hell's the matter with you? You really are pathetic," she said flatly.

"Well, at first I was…" he stumbled over the word. "Scared. I choked. Twice."

"Wow," Ashei said clapping him sympathetically on the back. "So the legendary Hero of Twilight's come down to join us mere mortals, huh? He slays giant mechanical bulls without a thought but talking about his feelings gives him cold feet. Typical guy."

"Oh, can it," Link griped. "I was about to tell her and then Prince Whatshisface of Holodrum decided intervene. After that she said she had something to attend to and left before I could get second chance."

"You mean a _thousandth_ chance," Ashei said pointedly.

Link scowled. "Don't you have someone else to annoy?" he asked.

"Only you, pretty boy."

"Anyway, so he challenged me to a fight tomorrow after lunch and I agreed," Link said.

"A duel?" Ashei said. "Not for the favour of Her Royal Majesty I hope."

"Like Zelda would ever agree to anything like that," Link replied. "And it's not a duel, it's just a sparring match."

"So, for your duel with His Highness Whatshisface," Ashei said. "You did make sure to mention that you're fighting to first blood and not to the death, yeah?"

"Oh for Farore's sake, Ash, it's just a sparring match. And I don't think that Prince Whatshisface has the gall to kill the Queen's betrothed in a sparring match, no matter how jealous he might be," Link said.

"Well, he might not kill you but what if he tries to stab you?" Ashei pressed. "Like, for real."

Link shrugged. "Then I get stabbed," he said.

"That's the spirit," Ashei said. "Pity you can't be that way in front of Zelda, yeah?"

"Keep talking and I'll be challenging you to a duel next," Link threatened.

"Oh, relax. I think it's cute that you're so shy around her," Ashei said.

"I'm not cute," Link said haughtily. "I'm a battle-hardened warrior."

Ashei only laughed at him. "Alright fine. But before you have your big duel with Prince Whatshisface fancy having a little practise duel with me?" she asked, drawing her sword with a flourish.

"With you? No way. I haven't forgotten what happened the last time you and me went at it," Link said, pointing the weapon's blade away from him.

Where it came to swordplay, Ashei wasn't his exact equal although to be fair there were very few people who were. Despite that on a most days she could definitely give him a run for his money. She was fast, vicious and had absolutely no regard for the concept of a fair fight. She had literally no compunction about kicking, scratching and, as he'd learned on the occasion of their last fight, hitting below the belt. Link was no stranger to the odd dirty fighting tactic or two but he figured that the line had to be drawn somewhere.

"But think of what happens after you become Prince," Ashei pointed out. "I imagine you won't be able to come down here and get down and dirty with the likes of us peasants, yeah?"

Link frowned. That very morning, the day after his engagement to Zelda had been announced, he'd been approached by one of the other officers and told that he was being relieved of the duty of teaching the new trainees because it wasn't 'fitting work for a man of his rank'. Link had accepted the instruction meekly, although he wasn't very happy about it. He wondered whether he would still be allowed to perform his duty as champion after the wedding or if that would be taken away from him as well.

"This could be your last chance to get even with me," Ashei prodded, prying him out of his thoughts.

"Get even, huh? I don't see how that's going to happen since I can't exactly kick _you_ in the balls," Link answered. "Unless you've got a pair hiding down there somewhere. That wouldn't surprise me at all."

"Yeah actually; they're a little souvenir I took from the last guy who got smart with me," Ashei said pointedly, although there was still humour in her voice. Her eyes slid towards one of the walkways that bordered the courtyard. "Hey, there's Zelda."

"Trying to catch me off guard? That's very funny, Ash, but I'm not going to fall for that one again," Link said.

"No really," Ashei insisted, sheathing her sword to make her point. "Here she comes now."

Link turned in time to see Zelda approaching them, walking down the stone walkway Ashei had been hiding in with such short, graceful steps that she seemed to glide. Several of the officers of her Council were following after her and trying to get her attention even though she was keeping her eyes pointed forward as she studiously ignored them.

"Ladies and gentlemen please," Zelda said, suddenly rounding on them. "When I asked for a brief recess I believe that it was implied that I meant to do it _alone_."

No-one seemed to have anything to say to that and Zelda seemed to take their silence for acquiescence and attempted to make her escape but as soon as she started walking they began to pursue her and ply her with questions once more. Although her face was as impassive as ever he recognised the square set of her shoulders as an indication that she was getting angry. Link decided that he'd better intervene.

"Your Majesty!" he called, approaching the walkway. "It's good to see you!"

The lords and ladies accompanying Zelda looked none too pleased at his intrusion, possibly because his time with the trainees had left him more than a little dirty, but they could hardly tell him that he wasn't allowed to speak to his fiancée in their presence. Zelda, for her part, looked entirely pleased to see him. He wondered briefly if she had decided to come along this particular hallway in the hopes that he would rescue her from the officers of her Council.

"Why, hello Link, it's very nice to see you as well," she said, extending her hand to him and without hesitation Link bowed down and kissed her knuckles. "My lords and ladies, would you kindly give me a moment to speak to my betrothed?"

The lords and ladies grumbled their disapproval but reluctantly left her be, wandering back down the hall and presumably back to wherever they came from. Link waited for them to be safely out of earshot before he turned to Zelda.

"Rough meeting?" he asked.

Zelda let out an exasperated sigh, allowing her shoulders to sag by a few degrees which was as close as she ever came to a relaxed pose.

"You have no idea," she said. "I only called a meeting of the Council to ascertain when would be the least incommodious time to host the royal wedding but it seems that the Council members are much more interested in bullying me about my choice of consorts. Also, I've decided on my own that the wedding ought to be in autumn, if you're alright with that. I do so love autumn."

"Well, autumn sounds nice and if it's any consolation I think you have excellent taste in consorts," Link said but then he bit his lip, unsure of how to continue. "Were those…? Were any of them…?"

"You're asking if any of them were among those who disapprove of our marriage?" she asked, taking his meaning at once. Link nodded.

"Well," she said, gesturing towards one of the Council members' retreating forms. "There's Lord Cox, for one."

Link scowled. It made sense that Lord Cox would disapprove since he and his wife were both sticklers for etiquette and tradition. He began to wonder if Lady Cox really hated small talk or if she just claimed she did to avoid talking to someone she thought of as beneath her station.

"Who else?" he asked.

"Lady Arrington isn't too fond of you either, I'm afraid," Zelda admitted.

"Who else?" Link pressed.

Zelda glanced down the hall and then opened her mouth as though to reveal the names of the offenders before she seemed to think better of it. "I don't think I should tell you any more, Link," she said. "It's putting you in a very bad mood."

"I'm not in a bad mood," Link said. "Why would you think that?"

"You've got your 'work face' on," she said.

"Sorry," he said and then pulled a face to help mend his expression. "I'm not in a bad mood. Um, you don't think this marriage thing is a bad idea, do you? Because if you want to call it off I totally understand."

He most certainly didn't understand, nor did he want the wedding to be called off for any reason. He wasn't sure what he would to himself if Zelda decided to call of their engagement but making her suffer at the hands of the Council for his sake didn't seem like the right thing to do either.

"Don't be ridiculous, Link," she said. "As if I would marry one of those pompous princes just to gain the Council's approval. I may have to accept their input where matters of the state are involved but the matter of who I marry is where I draw the line. Besides, I don't think the royal bloodline will be any poorer for the addition of a little heroic blood, do you?"

Link arched his eyebrows. "Can you do that?" he said. "Ignore the Council like that, I mean."

"I'm the queen, aren't I?" There was a hint of mischief in her voice.

"Whoa, there. Abusing your power, Your Majesty?" Link teased. "If I didn't know any better I'd worry that you were turning into a tyrant."

"Oh hush," Zelda said, flicking his ear. "Besides, there's no-one in the world I'd rather marry than you."

Link blinked rapidly. "Really?" he asked, his voice hopeful.

"Of course," she said. "Isn't everyone always saying that one ought to marry their best friend?" Link involuntarily let out a sigh at that which he tried to cover up by pretending to yawn. Sadly, Zelda had already heard it at was not fooled at all by his act. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Well…yes and no," Link said, figuring that he might as well go for the plunge. The expression on Zelda's face was anxious, probably worrying that he was going to call off the engagement. He hurried to reassure her. "It's not that I don't appreciate your friendship, you know I do, but what if I want something more than that?"

"Link," she said, her eyes cautious. "What are you saying?"

"What am I saying?" Link said. "I'm saying…I'm saying that I didn't agree to marry you just as a favour to you or because I felt trapped or anything like that. I'm saying that I agreed to marry you because I want to. Because I love you."

* * *

"Well, what did she say?" Telma asked, setting the three mugs of beer she had brought down on the table.

She had taken one look at the stricken expression on Link's face when he wandered in with Ashei that she had immediately escorted them both to the back room. She must have also sent someone to fetch Shad because it didn't take long for their friend to arrive and take his seat at the wooden table that had once been used during meetings for the Resistance.

Link picked up his mug and took a gulp. "Well, at first she didn't say anything," he said. "Then she said that that was 'good to know'." Shad, Ashei and Telma all winced sympathetically as Link continued. "She said she thought that she might feel the same way about me, but she wasn't sure because I had just dumped a lot of stuff on her and that she needed some time to think about it. Then she ran."

Shad picked up his mug of beer and took a whiff of it, trying to disguise the fact that he seemed displeased by the smell. Although he didn't really have a taste for beer and never had Telma didn't really have anything fancier that would be more suited to his tastes but since he was far too polite to complain he had to suck it up and drink it. He pinched his nose and knocked back half the mug before speaking.

"She _ran_?" he said, surprised. "Queens never run."

"Well she didn't break into a sprint or anything," Link said. "But she definitely ran."

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," Telma said, stroking Link's head sympathetically.

Link sighed loudly in response and started digging a rut into the wood of Telma's table with his fingernail.

"Link, listen," Ashei said. "I know you're upset right now but there's plenty more fish in the sea and—"

"She's not a fish, Ash," Link said, a hint of temper creeping into his voice.

"Oh for Din's sake, calm down," Ashei snapped. "It's just a simile."

"Metaphor," Shad helpfully supplied.

"What?" Ashei said, twisting in her chair to face him.

"You said 'simile' but what you really meant was metaphor. It's a very common mistake but simile is a comparison between two things using the words 'like' or 'as' whereas a metaphor is..." he stopped himself when he noticed the annoyed look Ashei was throwing his way. "Oh. Pardon me; I often forget that no-one cares."

"Got that right," she said.

"Listen, Link, I know it feels like your life is over," Telma said sagely. "Believe me, hon, I know. But things get better and you'll move on eventually."

"It's not over," Link said decisively.

"There you go, hon," Telma said, patting him on the back.

"No I mean, _this_ isn't over," he repeated. "Zelda just said she needed some time to sort out her feelings but she never said she didn't love me. Don't you think that means I still have a chance?"

Telma frowned. "Link," she said, "I don't think it's healthy for you to—"

"Telma, Zelda and I were meant to be together," Link insisted. "I can't just let her go. She's the one. I just have to make her see."

"Wow," Ashei said. "Does anyone else think that sounds incredibly creepy?"

"I'm not being creepy," Link snapped. "I'm not going to force her or anything, I'm just going to help the process along."

"And just how do you plan to do that?" Shad said, staring deeply, almost contemplatively, into his mostly empty mug.

"The old-fashioned way," Link said, his eyes full of conviction. "I'll ask her for her permission to court her and once I'm officially her suitor I'll be able to sweep her off her feet."


	5. Chapter 5

Every morning, Link woke up at the crack of dawn to do his training in the one of the castle's courtyards. He started by running a few laps around the castle's perimeter followed immediately by several dozen sets of press-ups and sit ups before he proceeded to actual sword training. Zelda knew this because every morning she also woke up at the crack of dawn and peeked at him through her bedroom window, which conveniently overlooked the courtyard Link liked to do his training in.

Link was down in the yard, washing the dirt and grime from his face after spending the morning beating the tar out of an unfortunate training dummy. As the weather got warmer and warmer to herald the approaching summer Link had gradually begun to shed his layers to keep himself cool while he ran and sweated. His latest ensemble included an old grey vest and no undershirt, all the better to show off his muscular arms to perfection.

If Zelda had been the type of woman to swoon she would have done so, instead all she could feel was relief that he was alright. She had no idea of what had happened to him since they had last spoken since he Link hadn't come to her quarters to fetch her the previous night. When he failed to put in an appearance at dinner as well she became quite worried.

As she watched Link sat down on a stone bench, water dripping from his hair, and began to undo the buttons that held his collar together, revealing first the white, unmarked skin of his neck, followed by the curve at base of his throat and soon after…Zelda quickly shut the drapes before she could see any more of him, and began to pace the room.

Was it possible that she was actually in love with Link? It was true that the thought of his fingers in her hair, his lips all over her, his bare body pressed against hers, often tormented her at night but she had always dismissed them as stray thoughts brought on by prolonged exposure to Link's stupid handsome face and his stupid fantastic body. She might have been a staid, level-headed woman but she wasn't a dead one.

The truth of the matter was that Link had never even let on that he loved her so she had refused to entertain the idea that his feelings for her might extend beyond the bounds of their mutual friendship. Although she secretly hoped that he might one day make a declaration of love to her she had never allowed herself to fully explore what her true feelings for him might be. Well, it was time to explore those feelings, and quickly.

She peeked out the window again only to see that although Link had taken his vest off but also that he was still wearing a plain white vest under it. _How disappointing,_ she sighed but she managed to beat off the wayward thought for long enough to resolve to caution him about removing his clothing in public when she met him to train him in etiquette.

"Are you in there, Your Majesty?" said a voice from the hallway, accompanied by a soft knock at the door.

Zelda quickly stepped away from the window and drew her robe shut. "Come in!" she called.

The door opened and two of her ladies-in-waiting, Lady Quigley and Lady Byrna, let themselves in.

"Has something happened, Your Majesty?" asked Lady Byrna, a pretty blonde woman who was closer to Zelda's own age. "You're as red as a beet."

"Oh no, I'm quite alright," Zelda said, waving her hand as though brushing her away and discreetly trying to fan her face to cool the rising blush in her cheeks as she did so. "It's rather warm in here, isn't it?"

"I suppose so," Lady Byrna said, suspicion creeping across her features but Zelda turned and seated herself in front of her vanity before any further questions could be asked. She watched as Lady Quigley began to dig through her massive armoire for a suitable outfit for her to wear as Lady Byrna approached her from behind, ready to braid and style her hair.

"So," Lady Byrna said, running her fingers through Zelda's chestnut hair, "does Your Majesty have anything in particular in mind today?"

"The usual, if you please," Zelda said, wondering if Ladies Quigley and Byrna could be trusted with the details of her relationship with Link. She dismissed the thought almost immediately. She'd worked herself into a sort of cage by announcing her engagement to Link without first stopping to consider everything that it entailed. Since everyone thought that she and Link were already in love asking anyone for help would expose the fact that she had only made up the engagement because the Council was pressuring her.

 _Maybe I could talk to Ashei about it,_ she thought but then she disposed of that idea too. Although Ashei had become a trustworthy and loyal friend of hers she couldn't forget that Ashei was also Link's friend. Trustworthy as she was, she knew she couldn't necessarily be depended upon to keep the truth from Link and was liable to tell him everything, especially when the details were so riveting and concerned him directly. There were ways to keep her quiet, of course, if she really wanted to do that but wearing her to secrecy on pain of death really didn't seem like the sort of things one ought to be doing to one's friends.

"I hear that Sir Link is engaging in a duel with His Highness Prince Alistair," Lady Byrna said offhandedly, having finished her task of braiding Zelda's hair. "Will you be attending, Your Majesty?"

"Me? I'm afraid not," Zelda lied. She had no intention of seeing Link again until she had sorted out her feelings for him. At the very least he deserved a straight answer from her. "I have some important business to see to and I will be unable to attend."

"How unfortunate," Lady Quigley said, approaching them with the purple and white embroidered dress she had picked out. Zelda gave the dress a perfunctory once-over before nodding her consent. She never bothered too much with what was picked out for her too much so long as it didn't include a hat and the colours didn't clash. Of course, Lady Quigley would never pick out anything like that for her; she was a lady of style and taste, after all. "Sir Link is an excellent fighter. How lucky you are to be marrying someone as brave as he is."

Zelda stifled a sigh. "I think so too," she said unhappily, getting up and allowing Lady Byrna to practically sew her into her stays before Lady Quigley finally helped her to dress her.

After spending a moment assessing her outfit and to make sure it met her high standards Lady Quigley finally pronounced her dressed. Once she and Lady Byrna had at last both bid her goodbye and taken their leave Zelda went back to her seat at the window only to find Link had packed up his things and left the courtyard, much to her disappointment. Usually, after she was dressed and if Link was no longer doing his training, Zelda would leave the quiet sanctuary of her room to busy herself with her queenly duties. Somewhere in the castle there was a foot high stack of papers awaiting her review and signature, nobles hoping to curry her favour and merchants who wanted to argue about trade tariffs and taxes. She didn't want to do any of it, not with all this business with Link already occupying her mind. She decided to spend the day in the company to her own thoughts instead.

* * *

When Link came down to the yard to begin his sparring match with the Prince he was annoyed, but not surprised, to see that there was a crowd waiting for him. This was nothing unusual; it seemed as though everybody and their uncle wanted to test their mettle against the Hero of Legend. Link always went easy on them since the majority of his challengers weren't as good as they liked to think but it always became quite a spectacle. He imagined that people came mostly because enjoyed seeing him giving their superiors and political rivals a good shaking.

Disappointingly, although half the castle had turned out to see him fight the Prince, Zelda was not in attendance. Of course, he hadn't seen her all day. They'd originally agreed that she would teach him his first lesson in etiquette that very morning but at the last minute one of the servants had brought him the word she had cancelled due to some other pressing matter, leaving him wandering the castle for hours with nothing to do. He was beginning to wonder if she was deliberately avoiding him now.

As soon as Link got a look at the Prince he knew the fight was going to be short. The man wielded his equipment like they were extensions of his arm, which was to say he seemed to forget that they were weapons and was gesticulating wildly with them. Link scowled at him as though he were the sole cause of all his troubles.

"My, my," Prince Whatshisface said, casually approaching him with his weapon sheathed, "this is quite a turnout."

"Not really," Link said coolly. The Prince gave him an odd look just then and Link realised that he was acting like a total ass so he changed the subject. "You never told me the terms of the match. Are we fighting to first blood?"

The Prince smiled at him, his previous grievances forgotten. "If match ended at first blood I fear it might end sooner than I would like," he said. Link narrowed his eyes at him. "The fight goes on until the other yields. I trust that is agreeable to you, Sir Link."

Link suppressed a smile. The Prince was totally out of his mind if he thought he would ever yield, especially to the likes of him. "Sounds about right," he said.

"Anything goes, but no hitting below the belt," the Prince said and then he added with a smile. "And no biting."

Link scowled at him. Although he and Zelda were the only people in Hyrule who knew about the time he'd spent as a wolf so he couldn't be referring to that but had never bothered to unlearn the habit of biting in a fight to the death and a few times people may or may not have spotted him sinking his teeth into the odd monster or two. Of course it didn't take much after for the rumour to spread that the Hero of Hyrule was a mad berserker who bit people. How one of Zelda's suitors had managed to hear of it was anyone's guess, though.

"I'll try to remember that," Link said, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. He failed miserably.

Both men seemed to agree that there was nothing further to be said and marched off to the opposite ends of the courtyard to face off against each other. There was a dull scraping noise of metal against leather as Prince redrew his weapon, a long rapier with a black blade and gilt basket and held his brass buckler on his other hand up in preparation for the fight.

"Are you ready, Sir Link?" the Prince called.

"As I'll ever be, Your Highness," Link replied.

Someone in the audience struck a gong and the fight commenced. To Link's surprise, the Prince did not strike immediately and instead chose to circle around him, sword at the ready as he tried to size him up. Link warily kept his distance from him, lightly fending off the experimental thrusts the Prince sent his way.

Growing frustrated, Link pinched the blade of his sword between his fingers and used it to stab at his opponent. The Prince danced away from the blow but it was enough to galvanise him into action and he came at Link in a hurricane of quick swipes and thrusts.

He parried all but the last, which moved so quickly that it seemed to come from nowhere. He felt a sharp, stinging pain as the cold steel of the sword's blade sliced his cheek, leaving a deep cut from which blood immediately began to flow. The audience gasped but Link ignored both them and the cut and began to retaliate with his own attacks. The Prince, however, was unexpectedly skilled with his brass buckler and time and time again he deflected Link's sword.

Just as Link was beginning to get frustrated with the direction the fight was taking the Prince surprised him by driving his fist into his stomach which was a substantial blow on its own, thanks to the brass buckler, but still totally manageable. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Prince was packing a little something extra. A wave of concussive force shot through him, scrambling his insides and sending him flying. Several of the spectators shrieked and scattered as he went crashing through them. His head spun as he struggled to get back on his feet, resisting the urge to throw up his lunch.

He looked dizzily up at the Prince's advancing silhouette. "You have the Gift," he said.

"That I do," the Prince replied casually.

Link frowned, realising the sort of disadvantage he was at. Aside from the power the Triforce granted him he was, as far as he knew, completely non-magical. The ability to use magic had once been common among those of Hylian blood but now only the royal family and a few others were still sufficiently magical to do anything with it. The idea that a non-Hyrulean man could possibly have the Gift had never occurred to him and was, quite frankly, baffling.

The Prince was standing right beside him now. "Do you yield?" he asked.

Link inexplicably grew angry at the Prince's words and, with newfound strength, launched himself at him. The Prince was apparently too caught off guard by the manoeuvre to counterattack although he did manage to dodge out of the way before Link could tackle him. The fight began anew, although Link knew that this time he had to end it quickly before the Prince turned whatever other magic he had hidden up his sleeve on him. While Link didn't doubt his ability to finish the fight, ending it without killing or seriously wounding the Prince would prove to be a serious problem. Only when the Prince deflected yet another one of Link's attacks with his damn buckler did the Link get the proper inspiration.

He tilted his shield arm, well aware that he was leaving himself open to the Prince's attack. The Prince took the bait and stabbed at the opening only to have Link turn and catch the blow on his tilted shield. The rapier glanced off the shield's rounded face and sent the Prince off balance, leaving him wide open to a counterattack. Link, seized the opening and rammed his shoulder into the Prince's side. The rapier felt to the ground with a loud clatter as the Prince went ass-over-teakettle on the ground, leaving Link free to pick up the fallen sword and point it at the Prince's exposed throat.

"Do you yield?" he asked.

The Prince eyed him suspiciously. "Yield," he said at length.

Link let out a sigh that blew all the tension right out of him and offered the Prince his hand. Much to his relief, the Prince decided not to ignore it and used it to haul himself up instead.

"You're an admirable fighter, Sir Link," Prince Whatshisface said, patting him companionably on the back. Link was somewhat relieved by his response. He was worried for a moment that he'd been a bit too rough with him.

The Prince whipped a clean, white handkerchief from his doublet and presented it to Link instead of using it himself. Link gratefully accepted the proffered handkerchief and used it to mop up the sheet of blood flowing from the wound in his cheek.

"Thank— _thank you_ , Your Highness," Link said. "You were quite good as well." He made as though to return the kerchief to the Prince but stopped and frowned when he saw what a mess he had made of it. "Oh. I'm sorry," he said. "I'll wash it and return it to you as soon as possible, Your Highness."

"Oh, it's no problem at all, Sir Link. I'll take care of it," the Prince said, putting his hand out for the kerchief. "What's a bit of blood among soldiers?"

Link hesitated for a moment before handing it over, wondering if Zelda had perhaps misjudged the man. Despite what she had said about him being a little odd he actually seemed like a decent enough sort. Link made a note to learn the Prince's actual name as he took Link's hand and raised it to the crowd, who applauded, whistled and cheered for him. Shad and Ashei, who were standing together among the mob, smiled at him and waved. Link made his way over to them as soon as it was polite to do so.

"Nice going, Link," Ashei said, giving him a congratulatory clap on the back that was so hard he nearly fell over. "That was damn fantastic."

"I agree," Shad said with a nod. "That shield technique was both inventive and very effective. Congratulations."

Link shyly waved away their commendations. He only had one thing on his mind anyway. "Did Zelda come?" he asked.

Ashei and Shad exchanged an anxious look. "I'm afraid she he didn't," Shad said. "I'm terribly sorry."

Link was suddenly downcast. "Oh," he said. "I see."

"Don't worry about it, Link," Ashei said after a brief period of silence. "Let's go down to Telma's. I'll buy you a round to celebrate."

"Ashei," Shad said with a disapproving sniff, "didn't Telma promise us all free drinks for life?"

"Well, in that case he can have _two_ rounds, yeah? What do you say, Link? Want to go?" Ashei said, turning back to Link only to find that he had vanished into the crowd and was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

To say that Prince Alistair was upset that the Queen hadn't chosen him to be her consort would have been a gross understatement. He was terribly, hideously angry, especially since as the last of eight children becoming the consort of the Queen of Hyrule had been his only real hope of gaining any recognition. Now that option was lost to him forever. If that wasn't bad enough she had gone and chosen to marry the Hero of Twilight instead who, despite his service to Hyrule, was of decidedly ignoble upbringing.

 _The only thing she could have done to insult me further would have been to say she had decided to marry a trash collector,_ he thought as he stormed through the Queen's rose garden before he plopped down on a stone bench beside a bed of hydrangeas, totally exhausted by his anger.

"It's a beautiful night, is it not, Your Highness?"

Prince Alistair turned, only to find himself in the company of one of the lords who had been present at dinner. He hurried to appear calm and collected.

"Yes, quite," he said. "I must say that Hyrule's climate is very mild and pleasant. In Holodrum, it would be unlikely for the weather to remain constant enough for us to enjoy a lovely night like this for long."

His lordship nodded approvingly. "And what do you think of Her Majesty's garden?" he asked.

Prince Alistair took a moment to look around. He had not given the garden a thought until then but he found that it was quite beautiful with its patches of dewy white and purple roses, vibrant lavender as well several beds of highly unusual but beautiful flowers. "It is among the most spectacular I have ever seen," he said. "The Queen has excellent taste."

The man's eyes shone as though he had said exactly the right thing. "That she does," he said casually. "Although I'm afraid that while she has excellent taste in flowers here taste in men is highly lacking."

The Prince blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Come now, Your Highness, there is no need to be circumspect about this," the man said. "The Queen's choice of consort is clearly…unfit to help her with the task of ushering in the new generation of Hyrulean royalty."

"Pardon me for asking but why are you telling me this, my lord?" Prince Alistair asked. "Would it not be more worth your lordship's time to take that complaint directly to the Queen?"

"Just so," his lordship replied. "Unfortunately, I doubt that Her Majesty will see the error of her ways. She is too blinded by her love for the Hero of Twilight. If she is to see the light we must present her with an alternative." He paused deliberately. "A better alternative."

It didn't take a genius to figure out what his lordship was getting at. "You mean me," Prince Alistair said.

"Quite."

"Why do you think she would ever change her mind when she has already made her intentions towards the Hero of Twilight so clear?" the Prince asked. "And even if she did decide that she had made a mistake why would she choose me to take his place? It is quite obvious that she does not care for me."

"Because you will be the only one left who will still accept her proposal," his lordship said. "Her other suitors will be leaving for their homes within the week whereas you, Your Highness, will remain until the Hero of Twilight is entirely out of the picture. Under enough pressure from the Royal Council, I am sure her Royal Highness will have no issue agreeing to marry you in his stead."

"You certainly have all of this planned out," the Prince said suspiciously. It was beyond him why an officer of the Queen's Royal Council would want to do something like getting rid of the Queen's fiancé. He was sure quite sure that somehow counted as treason. "But what of the Hero of Twilight? What is to be done with him?"

His lordship smiled. "Come with me, Your Highness, there is someone I would like you to meet," he said.

With a sweeping gesture he indicated a dark, undecorated carriage, drawn by a pair of black horses waiting for them on the paved road at the edge of the Queen's garden. The Prince had barely noticed them before in the ambient darkness.

The Prince looked nervously from his lordship to the carriage and back again, unsure of whether or not he should accept the offer. _Your destiny is calling you, Alistair,_ a voice in his head said. The Prince grabbed it with both hands.

* * *

The carriage made its way through the slums on the outskirts of Castle Town and came to a stop in front of two dark, joined buildings. The Prince waited for the carriage to proceed to its true destination but to his surprise his lordship alighted from the carriage and jumped down onto the twisted cobblestone streets. The Prince reluctantly followed suit. His boots squelched in some of the dark, unidentifiable muck below.

"Which is it?" he asked, looking at each of the darkened buildings. There didn't appear to be anyone home.

"Neither," his lordship said.

Unperturbed, his lordship proceeded towards the walls. When it looked like he might collide with them, he suddenly went down a step instead and his hand reached out and grabbed an elegant, wrought iron railing. Prince Alistair blinked at the flight of stairs that seemed to have appeared from nowhere inside what he could now see was actually a narrow gap in between the two buildings. Only the first few steps were visible in the light cast by the gas lamps bordering the street while everything else, including the door at the bottom, was shrouded in an inky blackness.

"What in the world…" he said.

"They're cloaked," his lordship explained, breaking stride and throwing the Prince a quick glance. "You can only see these stairs if you already know where to look. Don't forget about them, in case you need to return here without me."

The Prince nodded and followed his lordship down the flight of twenty-odd stairs, watching cautiously as he knocked at the door on the bottom three times and then, without waiting to be invited, let them into the most bizarre room the Prince had ever seen.

It was lit with multi-coloured light emanating from what looked like clouds of coloured gas floating in glass jars although if the Prince looked at them for long enough he swore the gas sometimes twisted into the shape of tortured faces. The entire room was fitted with ceiling to floor shelving that harboured the most bizarre collection of things he had ever seen: blinking eyeballs of various colours; putrid, twitching tentacles; horns, claws and spines of all sizes and, in one case, a human foetus, all suspended in jars of liquid and a couple of books here and there.

There were also a series of enormous black pots from which streams of coloured mist poured at all times, wafting and dancing with each other across the floor. The centrepiece of the room was a shallow brass bowl, standing in a cradle made fabricated from what looked like the legs of a bull, if bulls were about fifteen feet tall and made of metal.

A wizened, trembling old crone popped out of nowhere, surprising the Prince by suddenly appearing mere inches from his face and waving her staff at him. "Yes! Who is it? Who's there?" she cried, trying to get a good look at him though her thick spectacles.

"This is the dear friend of mine I was telling you about," his lordship said, looking at the old woman fondly.

"How do you do?" the Prince said, extending his hand for a shake. "We have come for—"

"I know why you have come," the old crone said. She seized his hand in both of her gnarled ones and began kneading it with her fingers. "You two have come to get your palms read, haven't you? My, my, young man, your life line is awfully, awfully short, isn't it? I'd watch out for that, if I were you."

The Prince snatched his hand back from her with some difficulty. She was surprisingly strong for a woman of her advanced age and diminutive stature. "That's not what we've come for at all," he said. "We've come because we have a problem. A problem that needs to be fixed immediately."

"What sort of problem?" the old woman inquired. "It's not warts, is it? I'm fresh out of cure for warts."

"It's the human sort of problem," his lordship put in.

"My, my, that's the worst sort of problem," the woman mused. "So difficult to get rid of discreetly. So tricky to dispose of the body."

"Dispose of the body?" the Prince said, taken aback. "You didn't say we were going to kill him."

His lordship shrugged. "It may not be necessary," he said, "but please bear in mind that we must be prepared to kill him if things go awry."

The Prince sighed. How had he ever gotten himself involved in such a messy business? "Very well," he said.

"Well I'm glad that's sorted out," the old woman said. "But what do you need me for? I sense that this one already has the Gift, and it's much, much stronger than mine. Trying to take advantage of an old woman, are you? I won't stand for it!"

"I can't use my magic to fix this problem," the Prince protested as the old woman tried to shove them outside. "I am…" he groped for the right words, unwilling to admit to his own weaknesses, "untrained. Magic tutors are virtually non-existent outside of Hyrule and they are all in such high demand that it would cost more than it was worth for me to receive proper schooling."

"His Highness needs your help," his lordship said.

"His Highness, you say?" the old woman said, stopping her onslaught. "I've never served royalty before."

The Prince frowned. "What did you do that for?" he asked his lordship. "I don't want to be identified if something goes wrong!"

"Don't worry about that, young man," the old woman said, rubbing her knobby hands together with excitement. "There is a magic field in place in this room to protect my customers. I won't remember any of the details about either of you once you leave here. Clever bit of magic, isn't it? I invented it myself, right after I invented the cure for warts. Anyway, I'll fix your problem for you, young man, but there is something I need from you in return."

"I have money," Prince Alistair replied.

"I don't want your money," the old woman said with a toothless smile. "What I want is a bit of your power. Just a fraction, you understand, just a hint. You wouldn't even miss it, especially since you don't seem to use it for much."

"Absolutely not," his lordship said, interposing himself between the two of them before the Prince could reply. "You'll take your regular payment or nothing at all."

The witch frowned and backed away from him, hobbling away to one of the bookshelves and grumbling something about people trying to take advantage of old women the whole time.

"What's wrong with that offer?" the Prince asked as the witch began to throw books off the shelves in a haphazard manner. "It seemed fine to me."

"What she was proposing is much too dangerous," his lordship explained in a whisper. "Your magical ability is intrinsically linked to your life force; if she took too much by mistake it could kill you."

"You certainly know a lot about magic," the Prince observed.

"I've done my reading," his lordship said. "I suppose someone must."

Before Prince Alistair could take offense at that the old woman returned with her fingers between the pages of a particularly dusty-looking book, grinning broadly at them. "Here it is, I've found the answer to your little problem," she crowed, plunking the book down in front of them and letting it fall open. "Look! Go on, look!"

Reluctantly, the Prince looked only to find that the page was written in entirely in ancient Hylian. He had received some training in the language but it looked like it would take weeks for him to translate so he just nodded politely and waited for the witch to take the book away. She did not, instead running her finger down the page to a indicate one of the passages.

"The ingredients are rather simple," she said. "In fact, most of them can be found right here but we are missing one. One very, very important ingredient." A cloud of fine dust rose from the book's pages when her finger landed under one word in particular. The Prince recognised it at once.

"Blood?" he said. The old woman nodded. "Whose blood? Mine?"

"No, you nincompoop, his!" the witch said, whacking the Prince on his head with her staff.

"What the bollocks?" the Prince cried. "What was that for?"

The old woman ignored him. "Perhaps this will shed a little light," she said, snapping her fingers. To the Prince's surprise the characters on the page shifted and rearranged themselves into readable words. Perhaps he had been wrong not to learn magic after all. His eyes scanned the page hungrily, taking in the instructions of the how to perform the spell and what it did.

"Oh," he said, his eyes lighting up. "That is very nice. Good choice."

"Of course it is," the witch said, slamming the book shut before he could get a better look at it. "I am a professional, young man!" She suddenly looked at the empty hourglass perched precariously atop one of her shelves and jumped up. "Ah, look at the time," she said. "I'm afraid I no longer have time to speak to you, the stars tell me that I must have a love potion ready before ten and they take so long to brew that I'm afraid I need all the time I can spare. Out with you!"

"But—" the Prince protested.

"Out with you!" the old woman cried. "And don't come back until you have what I need!" Before he knew it the Prince found himself turned out on the street along with his companion. It was the single most bizarre experience he had ever had.

His lordship was already moved to stand beside his carriage, dark and silent as a shadow. He matched the carriage and horses perfectly. "Shall we go, Your Highness?" he asked.

The Prince spared a look for the wrought iron staircase that led down to the witch's apartment. When he wasn't looking directly at them they truly did seem to fade out of existence, he realised. Then he went.

* * *

Figuring out how to get his hands on the Hero of Twilight's blood had taken him the greater part of the night but it had gone off brilliantly. The Hero had no idea what had actually transpired and by the time he did, he would likely be out of the way and unable to do anything about it. He had no idea for how long the blood he had acquired would be viable for use in the spell or even if he had collected enough. He certainly hoped that he had collected enough, he wasn't sure if the Hero would agree to another match with him.

He departed immediately for the witch's home, leaving his lordship a message at their original meeting place carriage telling him to join him at the witch's house as he had been instructed to do before he left the castle. Night was falling by the time the Prince managed to find the witch's house again. He rapidly descended the stairs and rapped three times on the door, like he had seen his lordship do.

"I'm here," he said, clearly but softly.

"Who is it?" a frail voice called.

"Who do you think it is?" Prince Alistair replied.

There was a brief scrabbling noise from within and the door opened "Oh, it's you dearie," the witch said, giving him a wide smile. "Come in, do come in."

The woman directed him to his lordship who was sitting amidst the brightly coloured mess at a rickety wooden table, looking completely out of place as he sipped herbal tea from a cracked china cup as though nothing was amiss. Before him was the brass bowl, now half filled with perfectly clear, stagnant water. When he saw the Prince approaching he set his teacup down and dabbed at his mouth with a handkerchief.

"Your Highness, there you are," he said. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd lost your courage or perhaps if you were just lost."

"My apologies, Lord…" he faltered. "I'm sorry, you never did tell me your name."

Unfortunately, his lordship saw straight through the ploy. "And I intend to keep it that way if you don't mind, Your Highness," he said, as the hag shut and fastened the door. "Did you bring it?"

The Prince nodded and, reaching into his doublet, produced the bloody handkerchief from his breast pocket. "I hope this will do," he said. "I very nearly got my head cut off to get this."

His lordship approached him in order to inspect the fabric but the old woman snatched it from the Prince's hand before he could get to it, put it to her face and, to the surprise of everyone present, inhaled deeply.

"This will do fine," she pronounced. "Yes, yes, very well done my boy!"

Her gnarled hands groped around on her desk until they landed on a pair of silver scissors. With two deft snips, she cut the clean part of the handkerchief away and threw the rest into the brass bowl. Both the Prince and his lordship looked on with eager anticipation as the cloth instantly turned black and dissolved. Its inky pigment slowly spread across the water to the edges of the bowl. Nothing else happened.

"Nothing's happening," the Prince said, disappointed.

"Your Highness," the Prince's contact said, "The witch's magic is nowhere near as powerful as yours, I'm afraid. We must have patience."

The Prince opened his mouth to tell his lordship exactly what he could do with his patience but was cut short when a cold hand took hold of his wrist. The Prince turned to the witch, ready to tell her to release his arm when he noticed that her hands were both at his sides and that her eyes were fixed on the brass bowl. It was then that the Prince noticed the human hand that was reaching from the bowl and holding onto his wrist. He shrieked and swatted at it. The hand released him at once and slithered back into the water.

"Don't do that!" the old woman said, clubbing the Prince on the head with her staff again. "You stop that this instant! This is very delicate work and I won't have you ruining it with your feminine screaming!"

The Prince yelped and clutched his head but didn't dare interrupt again as the old woman carefully approached the basin and spoke to it. "It's alright, you can come out now," she said sweetly.

Again nothing happened. Then without warning, the top of someone's head broke the surface of the water followed by a pair of eyes and a nose. The eyes scanned their present company with the dead, vacant look of a drowned man.

The Prince's eyes widened in shock. "That's—" he began but he backed away in fright when the creature raised its mouth out of the water.

"I live," it said.

The old woman rubbed her hands together gleefully. "Yes you do, dearie," she said, stroking the creature's damp, pale hair as one would a child. She turned to the Prince. "Go on then, talk to him."

The Prince and Lord both shared a look, wondering who would go first, until the Prince decided that, being the highest ranking person in the room, he ought to be the one to assert his authority. Besides, between the two of them he was the only one who had read the book and knew what to do. Cautiously, he approached the bowl. The creature's head slowly turned towards him but its large, baleful eyes seemed to be looking right through him.

"Can you understand me?" the Prince asked.

"Yes," it replied in a deep baritone.

"I have an important task that I want you to perform for me," he said, struggling to keep the tremor out of his voice.

"A task?" the creature repeated very slowly, weighing each word on its tongue. "For me?"

"Yes," he said. "Is it true that you are bound to follow the orders of whoever summons you?"

It took a long time in replying. "True," it said.

"Even if you are asked to kill the one whose blood was used to call for you?" the Prince asked of it.

Something in the creature's expression turned wicked and it smiled at him, revealing that its mouth was full of little white triangles, not teeth. "Especially that," it said.

The Prince's contact smiled at him and put his hand on his shoulder. "I do believe we three are going to be excellent friends," he said.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Zelda had waited for ages for Link to turn up to take her down to dinner but he had never appeared. In the end she had been forced to appear at the dinner table by herself, which had drawn some curious looks from her dinner guests. She had later learned that he hadn't been seen since his duel with Prince Alistair, even though Zelda had heard that he had won magnificently.

There was no question in her mind that he was sulking over her shoddy treatment of him. She had always made a point of going to each and every one of his fights to lend her support by cheering him on. She knew that she had her reasons for her absence and that those reasons were entirely valid but she still felt terrible for ignoring him like that.

A voice interrupted her train of thought, buzzing at the edges of her awareness like an annoying gnat. "...It is for this reason that I believe that the Crown's assistance will be of crucial importance in these reparations. Are you following Majesty?"

Zelda blinked at the man in front of her, a tall, lanky representative from a small town in the Lanayru Province. She struggled to recall just who he was and what he had been trying to tell her before she had so rudely stopped listening to him.

"Yes of course, Mr. Lark. Please rest assured that the reconstruction of Sagehaven is a matter of the highest priority to us and that we shall see to the matter personally," she said. "You can expect a royal emissary to pay you a visit to assess the extent of the damage very soon."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Mr. Lark said, bowing very low. "May the Three watch over you and yours."

Zelda nodded at him and he backed away to a respectful distance. He was then escorted out by one of the four guards who were standing with Zelda on the raised platform.

"I'm exhausted," Zelda whispered to her scribe, who was rapidly transcribing the exchange into the records. "How many more are there?"

"Just one, Your Majesty," the scribe said sympathetically. "He specifically asked to be seen last."

"Well then," Zelda said, sitting up straight to receive her last caller, "he must be an extraordinarily patient man."

The double doors, only having just closed on Mr. Lark opened again to admit her last appointment of the day. Zelda cringed when she saw Link, who was possibly the last person she wanted to see in all of Hyrule, striding through the door in his full regalia. He walked at a brisk clip, easily outpacing the guards who were doing their best to escort him to her, and dropped down on one knee at the foot of the short flight of stairs that led up to her throne.

"Link?" she said, surprised beyond all measure. "What are you doing here? And why on earth are you dressed like that?"

"I was informed that you're supposed to look your best when you come for an audience with the Queen," Link said in an uncharacteristically stern tone that made her tingle all over.

Zelda straightened her shoulders and allowed her face to set into a regal expression once more as looked down her nose at him. She could hardly afford to show weakness around him if he meant business, no matter how handsome he looked in a cape.

"You have been well informed," she said flatly. "Why have you come before us today? What favour would you ask of the Crown?"

Even as the words left her mouth they felt odd. Even in the most formal of situations she had never used the Royal We on Link before but if he felt slighted by it he refused to let on. Instead, he looked her dead in the eyes and said, "No favours. I've just come to ask why Your Majesty has been avoiding me lately."

A hush fell over everyone present at that. Even Zelda was temporarily stunned into silence. "Leave us," she ordered, noticing that some of the guards were regarding them with interest. There was no point in providing more grist for the rumour mill. "We shall speak to Sir Link alone."

The assembled guards and courtiers reluctantly picked themselves up and left the throne room without grumbling, leaving her entirely alone with Link. Part of her was angry and embarrassed that he'd trapped her like that while the other part was somewhat impressed that he'd managed to outthink her. She'd have to keep a closer eye on him in the future.

"What makes you think I'm avoiding you?" she asked.

"You didn't come to see me fight," Link replied.

"I was busy," Zelda said.

"Doing what?" Link asked. "You've never missed a chance to see me fight before."

"Some very important things," Zelda said, refusing to meet his gaze. "Facts, figures and the like. Nothing you would be interested in, I'm afraid."

Link frowned at her. "You're not anxious around me because I told you I love you, are you?" he asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, Link, of course not!" Zelda said, not entirely truthfully.

"Well, good," Link said, "because I have a request I'd like to make."

"A request?" Zelda said. "I thought you said no favours."

"I'm not asking you as your subject, I'm asking you as your fiancée," Link said and then, probably worried that he had sounded too harsh added, "and your friend."

Zelda bit her lip. "Then by all means ask away," she said.

"Don't go down to dinner tonight," Link said. "Come out with me instead. I think it would be nice for us to spend some time together."

"Oh?" Zelda said. "But don't we often spend time together."

"Yes," Link admitted. "As friends. I guess what I'm asking for is your permission to court you."

"Court me? Are you going to serenade me at my window and write poetry in my honour?" Zelda said with a laugh. "Because I must warn you that many men have tried to win my heart that way and not one has ever succeeded."

Link quirked a crooked grin at her, his serious demeanour melting off him in an instant. "Then it's a good thing I can't sing for shit," he said.

The both of them laughed at that, Zelda more from relief than anything. She had begun to worry if everything they had once had between them was ruined and that they would never joke or laugh together like that ever again.

"But Link," she said, "if I don't go down to dinner I'll surely be missed. Someone will be sent up to find me and what will I say when I am asked why I was not there?"

"Tell them you were with me," Link said.

"That hardly helps," Zelda said. "You and I are secret lovers, remember?"

"I heard," Link said, grinning deviously at her. "I also heard that the only reason you're marrying me is because you couldn't let a lover as talented as I am walk away."

Zelda blushed at the direction the conversation had taken but she didn't stop him. "That sounds like as good a reason as any," she said. "Is there any truth in it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Link said, winking playfully at her. "So, will you come?"

Zelda blinked at the abrupt change of subject. She'd nearly forgotten what they had been talking about. "But Link," she said, finding it necessary to offer at least token resistance. "I have nothing to wear."

"I thought about that," Link said. The hand that had been obscured by the fall of his cape came towards her, holding out a plain brown box done up in twine.

"What is it?" Zelda asked.

"Open it up and see," Link replied.

Zelda's curiosity got the better of her and she all but snatched the package from him, undid the ties and popped off the lid. Inside was a simple blue and white cotton dress with puffy white sleeves. It was very becoming; although far plainer than anything she had ever worn. Link had decent taste in dresses, it seemed.

"I bought that for you," Link explained. "I figured you couldn't go out looking like, well, you so I went out and found you this."

"You're very rebellious today," Zelda noted.

Link gave her his most debonair smile. "I know," he said. "Rebellion is my middle name."

Zelda bit her lip as she considered Link's offer. Link was looking at her hopefully, as though nothing in the world mattered more than her answer. It was for that very reason that she'd trying to avoid seeing Link again until she'd decided whether she loved him or not. It was easier to sort out her feelings for him when he wasn't around and she had all her wits about her. When he was standing there in the flesh with his wild, spirited eyes and that endearing smile of his he became impossible for her to resist.

"Very well," she relented. "Where are we going?"

Link beamed at her and at once Zelda knew she had made the right choice. "Not far," he said. "I hear that Castle Town is very lovely at this time of year anyway."

* * *

They walked arm in arm through Castle Town, a couple of nobodies out on an evening together, Zelda in the blue and white dress Link had bought her and Link in a sleeveless white shirt fastened around his waist by a bright orange sash. Even in plain clothes Zelda felt as though every eye in Castle Town was trained on them. She panicked. They could see through her disguise. Any moment someone would raise the alarm and the Royal Guard would come charging through the portcullis after them. Link would probably be thrown in jail for coercing her into doing something so reckless.

Link, seemingly noticing the way she anxiously searched the shadows for any sign of danger, laid a soothing hand on her arm and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Calm down," he whispered, his lips dangerously close to her ear, "no-one will notice. I do this all the time and no-one ever recognises me."

Zelda nodded curtly and tried to allow herself to relax but she couldn't shake the feeling of disquiet that had settled over her. Link frowned at her but quickened his footsteps to bring them to their destination faster.

"We're here," he announced, pointing to the simple, brass-bound door at the end of the cul-de-sac.

"Where's here?" Zelda asked.

Link said nothing, he only smiled and pushed the door open so that Zelda could see what sort of place they had come to. Zelda's eyes widened as she took in the sights and sounds of the bar. There were all sorts of characters in there: grizzled, one-eyed adventurers, pretty girls with feathers in their hair, servants, merchants, the man from the Castle Town branch of Malo Mart and Hyrulean soldiers in uniform which, Zelda noted, was quite against the rules. A quintet of Gerudo women stood on a raised platform at the centre of the room, playing music on a violin, a flute, a setar, the drums and the pipes simultaneously, creating a type of music that was both familiar and exotic at once.

At the back of the room, behind a varnished bar counter, stood the infamous Telma herself. She was busily directing two boys who standing on each other's shoulders as they tried to hang a string of paper lanterns from the rafters. Link made sure to carry her in a wide arc around them as they made their way over to Telma.

"What's going on here?" Zelda asked, looking around in bewilderment. "It seems awfully lively in here."

"A party, hon. That old guy over there's having a birthday," Telma said, turning to them and jerking her thumb in the general direction of the crowd.

"Are you sure it's alright for us to be here, then?" Zelda said. "Neither of us have an invitation."

"They can't stop us from walking into a bar, Zel," Link said and then to Telma he added, "No Ashei, right?"

"Of course not, and she'll stay away if she knows what's good for her," Telma said. "You owe me for keeping that girl off your tail, you hear me?"

"Put it on my tab," Link said flippantly.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Telma said to Zelda. "Link's told me a lot about you."

"Oh?" Zelda said. "Nothing untoward I hope."

Telma's eyes gleamed mischievously but before she could speak Link interposed himself between the two of them. "Actually, why don't we have something to drink first," he said hastily. "Telma?"

"You're no fun," she said, going to fetch the drinks from one of the barrels stacked up against the far wall and leaving Zelda alone with Link. Or as alone as they could be in a bar.

"So that was Telma," Zelda said. "She seems…"

"Saucy?" Link supplied.

Zelda smiled. "Nice." she said. "I can see why you're always in here."

"Well, it isn't all her doing. This is usually where Ashei is," Link said. "Also the beer is free."

As if to illustrate his point Telma came back at that moment with two frothing mugs which she set down on the countertop in front of them. "Drink up you two," she said with a wink before she moved on to attend to the needs of her other customers.

Link seized his and began drinking it with enthusiasm while Zelda eyed hers with suspicion, trying not to be put off by the awful smell wafting off of it.

"You're not drinking," Link remarked. Zelda observed that he had already downed almost half the glass. "Haven't you ever had a beer before?"

"Never," Zelda admitted. "You're not trying to take advantage of me are you, Link?"

"Damn, you've got me all figured out," Link said, a sly smile creeping across his face, "but seriously, don't drink it if you don't want to. I wouldn't want you to get sick or anything."

Zelda laughed. "Link, you insult me," she said. "I've had to outdrink far sturdier men than you, I'm afraid. Some of the men I meet are rather unscrupulous."

To illustrate her point she picked up his mug instead of her own. She felt his eyes on her as she tilted the glass to her lips and drank from it. The feeling was oddly exhilarating and even though she thought the drink tasted awful, she was urged on by the rush she got from so fully commanding Link's attention, and managed to finish the entire glass and set it down on the counter.

"Impressive," Link said, leaning towards her, "but that was mine." He reached across the counter and snatched her drink from her, downing the entire mug in one go and setting it triumphantly down on the counter.

"Hey!" Zelda protested. "That was mine!"

"Do you want to dance?" Link offered, trying to distract her from the subject of the beers.

"Do you?" Zelda replied. "I wouldn't want you to make a fool of yourself out there."

Link rolled his eyes at her and expectantly put his hand out to receive hers. "I think I'll manage," he said sardonically.

After a moment's consideration Zelda put her hand in his and allowed him to lead her to the centre of the room, where the Gerudo quintet were tuning their instruments in preparation for another round of songs. They were not the only ones there; a crowd of men and women had gathered at the base of the raised platform, joining hands in small circles in preparation for a dance.

Link took her to one of the circles and made her join hands with him and one of the men beside her, who winked and grinned wolfishly at her. No sooner did she join the group when the Gerudo quintet stopped plucking tunelessly at their instruments and broke into song. The circle immediately lurched left and then right, pulling Zelda along with it, before breaking into some of the fancier footwork.

Zelda was utterly lost, the dance was so unlike any waltz or minuet she had ever performed and seemed to revolve more around spinning in circles and kicking up dirt than anything, but she managed to muddle along somehow. Thankfully the other dancers were either too drunk, too joyous or simply did not care enough to notice what a mess she was making of the steps and carried her along with them anyway and eventually she began to get the hang of it.

Now and then the quintet would strike up a new tune and the dancers would either pair off if they were in a group or join hands if they were together. Zelda ended up dancing with several different men over the course of the dance but Link somehow ended up finding his way back to her more often than not. Zelda liked dancing with him best but every time she began to get a feel for him the quintet would change the music again and someone else would carry her away.

"Alright I'll admit," Zelda said, when she and Link were dancing together once again, "you really are a good dancer."

"I told you so," Link said smugly, twirling her under his arm. "It's your fancy court dances I can't get the hang off."

"Well, perhaps when I meet you for your training in the morning I'll go a bit easier on you in light of your performance tonight," Zelda said.

"So we're meeting for training in the morning then?" Link said. "You won't avoid me anymore."

Zelda pretended to think about it just to tease him. "No," she said at length. "I don't think I will."

It was then that the music tapered off. After a final spin, Link brought them to an abrupt stop, leaving the two of them standing there together. Link locked eyes with her. Zelda noticed with a pang of nervousness that he was awfully close to her, close enough for her to take in the wild, green smell that came off him.

For a moment, she was worried that he was going to kiss her in front of the entire bar; his eyes on her were so intense. Luckily at that moment the quintet started playing again and the change in atmosphere drew Link's attention off her, much to Zelda's relief. It was hard enough to decide whether her attraction to Link was rooted in genuine affection or whether it was simply the manifestation of much baser urges _without_ his kisses clouding her judgement.

"Are you thirsty?" Link asked suddenly.

Zelda blinked, surprised by the apparent non-sequitur. "Yes, I am," she said.

Link released her suddenly. "I'll get you some water," he said, worming his way through the crowd back to the bar counter and Telma without another word, leaving Zelda alone. Rather than stand there gawping she wandered away from the crowd and chose a table to sit at in a spot that wasn't too noisy.

"Hey, lady, you got the time?" a voice over her shoulder said.

Zelda turned to find herself face-to-face with one of the men she had danced with, the one who had winked at her. He looked dizzy and his eyes were unfocused, probably due to alcohol, although all the spinning they had just done was still a very likely candidate.

"Sorry, I don't have a watch," Zelda said, pointing to her bare wrist and wishing he would go away.

He did not. Instead he looked her dead in the face and said the phrase she had been dreading the entire night. "Aren't you the Queen?"

"No, absolutely not," Zelda said and then, worried that she had spoken too quickly, added, "but I'm flattered you think I look like her."

The man, whoever he was, would not be deterred. He grabbed Zelda's arm in an iron grip. "Hey, Michael, get over here," he called. "Don't you think this girl looks just like the—"

Luckily, Link intervened before the man could finish or before the mysterious Michael could put in an appearance. He set the two glasses of water down on the table Zelda had chosen and then calmly plucked the man's hand off her arm.

"You're mistaken," he said, the cold voice from that morning making an unexpected reappearance. "Kindly leave this young lady alone."

"Hey, hey, calm down. I didn't mean nothing by it," the man protested.

"It's fine," Link said, his attention focused solely on Zelda. "I think we should go," he whispered.

Link turned just in time to notice the punch the man threw in his direction. He swiftly ducked under it and retaliated by cracking his knuckles across the man's chin. Zelda did not judge it to be a particularly hard blow but in his state of drunkenness the man's balance was not as sound as it could have been. She watched in dumbfounded silence as he turned a neat pirouette and fell backwards into the table she had just been sitting at, upsetting it and sending the two glasses flying.

Link took her by the arm and dragged her out of the bar before things could get nasty. The cool night air made a mess of her hair as Link hurried her down the twisting, cobbled back roads of south Castle Town, probably trying to lose anyone who might be trying to follow them.

"Goodness, Link, you always seem to run into trouble wherever you go," Zelda said, quite out of breath from being pulled along. "Can't you ever stay out of trouble?"

"No way," Link said quipped. "Trouble is my middle name."

"I thought you said your last name was 'Rebellion'," Zelda said.

"I have two," Link said haughtily. "I'm sorry for that though. I totally ruined our evening and everything was going so well."

"Well, since that man who you so mercilessly pummelled already had me made I would say that our evening was about to come to a conclusion anyway," Zelda said. "And I had fun anyway. Thank you for bringing me out tonight, it was very relaxing. It's nice to have someone to look out for me."

"And what's the Royal Guard for then? Decoration?" Link asked.

"You know what I mean, you terrible man," Zelda said, elbowing Link in the ribs. "Someone who cares."

Link beamed at that but refrained from saying anything as the two of them sneaked under the northern portcullis that lead back to Hyrule Castle. As the lopsided silhouette of the unfinished building came into sight an icy wind set into them, chilling Zelda to her bones and making them both shiver.

Link seemed to notice how cold she was because he carefully removed his arm from her grasp and carefully draped it over her shoulders to keep her warm. Zelda eyed him curiously but he kept looking straight ahead like he hadn't done anything differently. Content, she sidled closer to him and wrapped the arm that wasn't trapped around Link's waist. She wasn't sure if she loved him yet, but she could definitely get used to this.


	8. Chapter 8

In Link's dream he was a wolf again, chasing a red-eyed deer through Hyrule field under the light of the full moon. He had been chasing the same deer relentlessly for hours but without a pack to help him actually bringing it down had proved challenging. He didn't quite understand why he continued to chase that same deer hour after hour but instinct told him he needed to keep following it.

The deer, which up until that point had been leaping gracefully away from him, caught its hoof on a rock and stumbled and Link was on it in a second, sinking his teeth into the animal's throat. Warm blood poured out of the deer's neck and into his mouth but instead of the salty, metallic taste he'd grown used to he found that the animal's blood was old and stale and rotten.

He let it go, trying to spit the blood out before he could swallow it and instead of falling down dead from the wound he had just inflicted on it the deer simply found its feet and bounded away into the woods. Confused, Link let the deer be and spent the rest of his night chasing rabbits but after that each time he looked over his shoulder the deer was watching him from the treeline, its eyes two red pinpricks in the darkness.

"Link, you're not paying attention," said a human voice.

Link looked up, blinking in the bright light that streamed through the floor to ceiling windows of the dining room. "What?" he said. Shad shot him a disapproving look and Link scrambled to correct himself. "I mean, I beg your pardon."

"It's not polite to daydream while people are talking, Link," Shad chastised. "When someone is saying something to you do your best to be attentive. Look interested, sit up and for the goddess' sake, try to—"

Link drifted off again, too tired to focus on Shad's lecture. He had had the wolf dream every night for the past month and he was really beginning to lose sleep over it.

"Alright, let's try this again," Shad said. "Do you remember which spoon to use?"

Link chewed his lip and looked at the steaming bowl of chowder in front of him, knowing at once that he was in trouble. There were at least ten different knives, forks and other little fiddly bits on the table in front of him, all laid out with meticulous exactness like the instruments of a surgeon and all gleaming at him mockingly.

 _All this for some lousy chowder?_ He thought.

"Link," Shad's voice tugged at the edges of his consciousness, "do try to hurry up, we haven't got all day."

Tentatively, Link reached for one of the spoons before, much to Shad's dismay, he simply picked the tureen up with both hands and drank from it directly.

"Link!" he cried. "Why did you do that? That's not the way we eat chowder!"

"It's the way _I_ eat chowder," Link replied stubbornly.

Shad shook his head in disappointment. "You do realise there is going to be soup at the banquet don't you?" he asked. "What will the lords say if your table manners aren't up to par?"

He was referring, of course, to the dinner that was being hosted at the castle in celebration of the royal engagement. Zelda had assured him that the event would be a modest affair but given its importance and Zelda's propensity for understatement he was quite sure that 'modest affair' was code for 'nine-course nightmare'. With nine courses to eat soup was sure to be involved somewhere along the line.

"They'll say the Queen is marrying a complete brute," Link repeated mechanically.

"Correct," Shad said. "Let's try this again. Try to remember what you're supposed to do this time. If you do that again I'm afraid I shall have to make you get out the literature."

Link groaned at that. 'The literature', as Shad was fond of calling it, was nothing more than a stack of heavy books that he had balance on his head on the days he was in charge of overseeing Link's training. Usually he only had to make use of the literature for fifteen minute sessions but if he misbehaved then it was back to the books with him. Shad was not a difficult teacher, but he was overly fond of using heavy books to improve posture and to punish unruly students.

Shad picked up the bell that had been sitting on the table between them and rang it with a high, silvery noise. "Another bowl of chowder for Sir Link, if you please," he said to the servant who came running to answer it. In no time at all Link found himself faced with another bowl of steaming soup.

"Well, Link, at the very least you'll be pleased to know that the last of Zelda's suitors left today," Shad said as Link contemplated his cutlery.

"Is that so?" Link replied in an offhanded manner, as though the matter of Zelda's suitors was a subject of little interest to him when in reality he had been watching all of them like a hawk.

Much to Link's annoyance even after they had been rejected Zelda's suitors insisted on lingering in the castle for several weeks to be wined and dined. Some of them shot Link dirty looks when Zelda was looking the other way; some of them continued to make passes at her, which Link was sorely tempted to put a stop to and some of them simply ignored both of them as well as they could.

To add insult to injury they refused to depart for their home countries without all the pomp and circumstance that befit men of their social status. Zelda took it all in good stride and agreed to host a farewell ceremony for each of them but Link was well and truly annoyed by it.

It didn't help that he had been expressly forbidden to attend any of the farewell ceremonies. Everyone involved had decided that it would be in extremely poor taste to have the Queen's fiancé show up to bid her jilted suitors goodbye but Link had sneaked into every single ceremony just to make sure they were all good and gone. He had never considered himself a jealous person, but the sooner Zelda's suitors were gone the better.

Only when Shad's lips had stopped moving did Link realise that he had been saying something. He did his best to look riveted in the hopes that Shad would continue talking and leave him alone. Unfortunately he did just the opposite.

"What do you think of that Link?" he asked expectantly.

_Damn it._

Just Link opened his mouth to tell a particularly fantastic lie someone knocked on the door and then, without waiting to be admitted, opened it. _That must be Ashei,_ Link thought, twisting in his chair to see if he was right. Ashei, not being an observer of social niceties, was the only person he knew who would do something like that in a castle. Zelda kept her out of the sight of the lords as much as possible.

"Yo, Link," Ashei said, thankfully coming to his rescue, "Zelda wants you up in her solar. Better get your butt up there, yeah?"

"Does she now?" Link said, hastily getting up. "Sorry Shad, looks like I have to go. I really liked what you were saying just now though. That conversation we were having. It was great."

Shad shot him a suspicious look. "Not to worry, we'll pick up where we left off last time," he said easily. "Do try to behave when you see Zelda. She's been having a difficult day."

Link nodded and retrieved the box that he had hidden under the generous skirt of the tablecloth. Ashei's interest was immediately piqued. "What's that?"

"It's a gift," Link explained, jerking the box out of the way when Ashei tried to get a look inside, "and it's for Zelda's eyes only."

"What could possibly be in there that you don't want _me_ to see?" Ashei said, obviously put out by his reticence.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're extremely nosy," Link grumbled.

"Every day," Ashei said flippantly. "Now let's see what's in the box."

"You'd better let her see," Shad advised, "otherwise we'll never hear the end of it."

Link sighed and popped the lid, setting down the box and popped the lid to show Ashei what was inside. Ashei practically stuck her nose into the box to see what was inside while Shad looked on with only mild curiosity.

"What the hell is that?" Ashei said, taking out a lyre made from a matching pair of brass, riveted horns.

"Stop touching it," Link said, snatching the lyre back, "and I told you it was nothing special. I made it out of the one trophies from my campaigns and I'm giving it to Zelda as a gift. You're supposed to give girls gifts when you're trying to court them."

"That's not a gift, that's trash," Ashei retorted. "No wonder she doesn't love you, try bringing her a real present instead of filling her apartment with smelly monster parts."

"Well lucky for me _you_ don't have to like it," Link said indignantly. "And I'll have you know that Zelda loves my smelly monster parts, thank you very much!"

"I think it's very nice of you to give her of yours something that you went through great pains to get," Shad offered helpfully.

"Nobody likes a kiss-ass, Shad," Ashei said. "I go on those campaigns too and those mechanical goats always go down without a fight."

"They're bulls," Link said, putting the lyre back in its box.

Ashei shrugged. "Same difference," she said.

"You think I don't know a goat when I see one?" Link retorted.

"The two of you stop it," Shad said sternly. "Link, you'd better go. You don't want to keep Zelda waiting."

Link nodded quickly, tucked the box under his arm and left Shad and Ashei together. One of the castle's finer gardens was visible from the arched walkway that he used to make his way from one wing of the castle to the other. It was Zelda's favourite because it was the only one that had a fountain in it, an enormous multi-tiered structure that produced a gentle babbling noise. As spring turned to summer the colours of some of the more unusual flowers had begun to fade, replaced by the sunset coloured dahlias that flourished everywhere, but the high fine-leafed hedges that made up the hedge maze were still as healthy as ever.

"-knew this was going to happen I wouldn't have agreed to your deal," said a voice from the direction of the hedges.

Link's turned towards the hedges. He didn't need to see the voice's owner to know that it was the Prince of Holodrum speaking. _Oh, goddesses, what's he doing here?_ Link wondered despite himself and then felt embarrassed. The man was an admirable fighter and hadn't done anything to him specifically but Link couldn't help but bear his romantic rival a little ill will.

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty, Your Highness," a different voice said. "It's much too late for that sort of talk now."

Although Link couldn't quite recall who it belonged to the second voice was definitely familiar to him as well. As quickly as possible, he stepped off the stone path and darted behind a rosebush, trying to get close enough to hear the conversation clearly without being caught.

"Someone's coming," the Prince's voice said, sounding panicked.

_Damn it._

He heard the sound of footsteps as the Prince stepped out from behind the hedges, allowing Link to catch a brief glimpse of him. He was taken aback by the Prince's appearance. When Link had seen him last hardly a month ago he had been the picture of health but now he seemed more poorly somehow. It might have been that his cheekbones were a bit more prominent than Link had remembered them being, or that his skin had gone pale and waxy and was covered with the faint green pattern of his veins, or it might even have been the prominent dark circles under his eyes. Either way, something had definitely occurred since he and His Highness had last crossed paths.

"Who's there?" the Prince called warily. "Show yourself at once!"

Realising that there was nothing to be gained from staying hidden, Link reluctantly poked his head out of his hiding place. "Your Highness," he said, trying his best to sound guileless. "I thought it was you."

"Oh, Sir Link, it's you," the Prince said. "What do you want?"

The cold edge in his voice was almost imperceptible but at the same time it was definitely there. Link briefly looked over the Prince's shoulder to see if the other half of the conversation was still hiding in the hedge there but found no one at all. Nevertheless the Prince squared his shoulders defensively like he was trying to block whatever was behind his back from view.

"You're probably wondering what I'm still doing here," the Prince said in a blatant attempt to distract him.

"I'll admit it did cross my mind," Link said.

"I've decided to stay in Hyrule a little longer as a sort of holiday," the Prince explained. "I've just received news that Holodrum is in the midst of a terrible blizzard right now."

"How terrible," Link answered, wishing Zelda were there. He was not yet adept at the art of wordplay but there was no doubt in his mind that she would have had the answers she wanted out of the Prince in half a second.

"Such things tend to happen," the Prince replied. "The weather in Holodrum is very unstable and often inclement." He paused. "Are you going to see Her Majesty now?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Link replied.

"Can't keep yourself away, eh?" the Prince replied. "Young love is a hell of a thing."

Link merely blinked in confusion, unsure of how to answer or even if he should. The Prince, sensing an opening, took advantage of the lapse in conversation and beat a hasty retreat. "Do excuse me, Sir Link, I believe I have somewhere to be," he said.

"Of course," Link said. "I'm sorry for keeping you."

The Prince had reached the walkway and strode off in the opposite direction before Link could even complete the sentence. Thoroughly disappointed that he had allowed him to slip through his fingers, Link made his way to Zelda's study.

Zelda looked up from behind the mountain of paperwork that had piled up on her desk as soon as she heard him open the door. She looked rather tired, although not nearly as terrible as the Prince had, but it was cause for concern nonetheless. Was the added work of preparing for the wedding and training him in etiquette causing her to lose sleep?

He wondered guiltily if he should offer her the opportunity to come to Castle Town with him again instead before realising that that would be terribly forward of him. As per the unofficial rules of courting, after he had made his intentions clear it was up to Zelda to set the pace of their courtship and he was simply meant to follow her lead although he was more than welcome to bring the odd gift or two to help the process along.

Zelda, for her part, was taking a painfully long time to make her decision, although ever since that night in Castle Town the awkwardness that had existed between them had melted away. She had also been favouring him more and more with what he perceived to be the underhanded, subversive method of flirtation that seemed to be common in highborn circles.

Apparently it would be completely ignoble of her to hold his hand in public or treat him as though he was anything more than a close friend of hers but it was perfectly fine for her to lace their conversations with innuendos and touch him teasingly when no-one was looking. Link, as usual, was confused and unsure of how to reciprocate but at least he knew that she was interested.

"Link, there you are," she said, "You took forever. Tardiness is not a becoming trait."

"My apologies, _Your Majesty_ ," Link said, "I got held up by Prince Whatshisface as I was leaving."

"Prince Alistair? Oh, I was just taking tea with him," Zelda said, indicating the tea service that was sitting on the table in front of her. "He wanted to tell me that he was delaying his departure due to a blizzard in Holodrum."

Link nodded. "I hear the weather in Holodrum is very unstable and often inclement," he repeated.

"Indeed," Zelda replied. "Although do you know what's curious? I could have sworn that Prince Alistair was among the first to leave. Or at the very least I haven't seen him in quite some time. I wonder where he's been these past few weeks, he was acting very oddly when I saw him…" She trailed off then, her eyes glazing over as they stared into nothing but she soon snapped to, realising that she had been daydreaming. "Oh, I'm so sorry Link, my mind began to wander. I've been sleeping poorly lately."

That piqued Link's interest. He wondered if Zelda was also being bothered by dream similar to his and what she might dream about. Without waiting for a reply Zelda indicated a chair sitting in front of a black and white checkered table to him. Like a good student, he sat. He couldn't help preening a little when Zelda praised his good posture. It had been hard won, after all. When he had just begun his training he had done nothing but sit upright in one of the chairs around the dining room table, his spine as straight as possible against its high back and both feet planted firmly on the floor while Zelda watched him carefully. And of course there had also been the literature to contend with.

It was the singularly most uncomfortable thing he had ever done. Usually he only had to sit in the chair for fifteen minutes daily, to get him accustomed to the effort of sitting with perfect posture, but if he did something that Zelda construed as misbehaving at any point during one of their lessons then back into the chair he went. Zelda reckoned that if he kept up his current pattern of misbehaviour he would soon be the best sitter in all of Hyrule.

Once he had been seated Zelda opened the drawer of her desk and took out a wooden box rather than the books and other materials she usually conducted her lessons with. Nestled inside it in swaths of wine-coloured crushed velvet was a set of tiny black and white statuettes, carefully carved from ebony and ivory. Link curiously picked up the one shaped like a rearing horse.

"Aren't we learning history today?" he said. "I thought today was history day."

"It is. But today, I thought I would teach you a different sort of lesson." Zelda said, plucking the piece she was holding from him and setting it down on the checkered board. "This was my father's chess set and my grandmother's before him. One day I expect I shall make a gift of this chess set for our child as well."

Zelda began to unwrap each piece, showing it to him as she did so and explaining it and made sure he understood. The pawns could only move one space forward and capture diagonally; rooks and bishops could move as far as they wanted but rooks could only move in straight lines while bishops could only move diagonally and knights moved in an L-shaped pattern and could move through other pieces.

She held up the two pieces that she had saved for last. "These pieces are the queen and the king, the two most crucial pieces on the board. The queen is the most powerful piece in the game and can move as far as possible in any direction," Zelda said, demonstrating the piece's movement on the board.

"The king, on the other hand, is one of the weakest pieces. He can move in all directions but only one space at a time and he cannot move into a position where he may be captured, which is called check. If you reach a point where your king becomes trapped and cannot move without putting himself in check then you have arrived at what is called checkmate and you forfeit the game."

Link nodded to show that he understood. Zelda put the king and queen back onto the chessboard and looked at him expectantly. "Shall we play?" she asked.

Link's eyebrows shot up. "Right now?" he said.

"But of course," Zelda said. "You'll learn by doing, you're rather good at that." She paused, noting the unsure look on Link's face. "What's the matter, brave hero," she said teasingly. "Afraid of a little friendly competition?"

Link grinned at her and readily took the bait. Zelda graciously allowed Link to use the white pieces to give him the first-move advantage. Even with his supposed advantage and Zelda clearly restricting herself to the simplest of moves Link still found himself soundly beaten over and over.

"Link, you're not trying hard enough," Zelda admonished him.

"I am!" Link said. "You've just been playing longer than I have!"

"I'm not winning because I've been playing longer than you," Zelda said in annoyance. "I'm winning because you make a lot of foolish moves, even for a beginner."

"Like what?" Link contested hotly.

"Like this," Zelda said, moving her bishop to take his queen. "You had a pawn in the way, but you moved it, which was utterly ridiculous. Even someone of your skill level ought to understand that the queen is an important asset that you should protect at all costs."

"I didn't want to put the pawn in danger," Link said.

"You're missing the point of the exercise, Link," Zelda sighed. "A piece's strength means nothing if you don't know how to use it, you need to learn how to strategize and make plans beforehand." She sighed and pressed two fingers to her temple. "Do you know why we are playing this game, Link?" she asked.

Link bit his lip. "Is this a trick question?"

"We are playing chess because it is a game that has much in common with politics," Zelda said. "Here, we are playing with inanimate pieces on a board but soon you will have the lives of real people in your hands. Your actions will have widespread, and possibly unforeseen consequences, therefore you must know when to advance and when to retreat, when to press your suit and when to yield and, if the situation requires it, when to sacrifice."

Link frowned. He had never really considered himself a tactician. The idea of yielding when he still had options available to him bothered him. The idea of sacrificing his pieces bothered him even more, far less for actual human lives. He'd never had any issue with the idea that he might one day have to sacrifice himself, of course, but asking others to do the same had never ask someone else to do the same. "What if I don't want to play that game?" he asked, playing idly with one of the pieces.

"You have no choice," Zelda said. "Once we are married you will be forced to play whether you want to or not, it's my job to prepare you by teaching you the skills you will need to make smart moves on your own."

Link went silent, and looked sullenly at his chess piece. "There is no need to be afraid, Link," she said gently.

"I'm not afraid," Link insisted.

"Anxious then," Zelda amended, taking his hand in both of hers. They were soft and warm against his as she gently coaxed him to loosen the chess piece out of the death grip he had on it. He hadn't even realised he had been holding onto it so tightly. "And you should be, you're taking on an immense responsibility but just because you think you're out of your element doesn't mean you can't do it. You've had responsibility before and you've been in battles before and politics is just that. It's just another battlefield. Usually with less bloodshed. Usually."

He set the piece back down on the board. "That was a very inspiring speech," he said.

"Thank you," Zelda said modestly. "It's in the job description."

Somewhere in the castle bells began to toll, signalling the start of a new hour. Zelda looked at him with an apologetic smile. "Do forgive me, Link," she said, "but I'm afraid that there are other pressing matters I must attend to. Shall I see you at dinner?"

"Of course," Link said amiably.

Zelda escorted him to the door and then lingered there for a while, looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Her eyes drifted down to his lips. Link swallowed. Then before the unspoken tension in the air could take them any further Zelda actually flushed and shut the door on him in a hurry.

 _Damn it,_ Link thought for the umpteenth time that day, kicking at the carpet. _Damn it!_ He thought again, realising that he still had the present he had brought for Zelda with him. He took the lyre out of its box and looked at it with disgust, as though it was really the reason that Zelda wouldn't say she loved him.

"I saw that, you know,"

"Your Majesty," Link said tiredly, sticking the offending instrument back where it came from

"The Queen, she really does seem to care for you," the Prince said ponderously. "Love really does conquer all. Why if a woman of Her Majesty's calibre could come to love someone like you then I suppose that anything is possible."

Link refrained from commenting on both the narrowly veiled insult the Prince had tossed his way and the complete, hilarious irony of what he had just said.

"As you say, Your Highness," he said and with a short bow in the Prince's direction, he began to walk away as quickly as possible.

"I'm not done talking to you," the Prince said sharply.

Surprised, Link threw a glance over his shoulder before coming to the conclusion that the Prince really must be ill after all and decided that he was best left alone. "Well I'm done talking to you," he replied, without sparing him a backwards glance.

"Just who do you think you are to tell me that?" the Prince shouted after him. "You're still just a peasant! A farm boy! You think that little triangle on the back of your hand makes you worthy of someone like the Queen? Even if you saved a thousand countries you'd still never be worthy to lick her boots."

Afterwards, Link could hardly explain why he did what he did next. Perhaps the Prince's words had hit some somewhere or perhaps the lack of sleep had caused his temper to run short but in the empty hallway there were no daydreams, no bells, no Zelda and no Ashei there to distract him therefore there was nothing to prevent Link from punching the Prince right in the face.


	9. Chapter 9

"I cannot believe you did that Link!" Zelda fumed. "Do you have any idea what you've done? After I just spoke to you about considering the consequences of your actions you go off and do _this_ not five minutes later! You can't just go around punching princes as you please! Do you know what's going to happen as soon as His Highness returns to his family? An international incident, that's what! Holodrum could declare war on us! Even if they don't they'll most definitely make all kinds of ridiculous demands in order to smooth all this over; demands we shall have to comply with since we have neither the resources nor the manpower to go to war with Holodrum right now!"

"Even if it never comes to war Holodrum could very well break of their alliance or very well refuse to trade with us and we'd lose a valuable ally for good. And goddesses know whose side Labrynna would take in that dispute but if they don't take our side then we shall most definitely be landlocked between the two of them and unable to trade with either country! Hyrule's entire economy could collapse all because of this one incident! Do you have anything to say for yourself?" She said, looking to him at last. "Well do you?"

Link swallowed. He had been sitting in silence and enduring Zelda's criticism for the greater part of fifteen minutes now but he didn't dare say anything in his defence, knowing that it would only set her off again. Zelda had been angry at him before in the past although she had never really begun to have at him like she was doing now. Of course, he had never done something so incredibly stupid as to punch royalty in the mouth before either. He looked up at her with a guilty expression, hoping that she would realise that he had learnt his lesson and stop shouting. Thankfully she did. Her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to calm herself.

"You need to get your temper under control, Link," she said finally.

"I know," Link said miserably.

Zelda groaned and began to pace the room once more. She had been pacing so much that Link had begun to fear for the well-being of her carpet. "I have work to attend to so unfortunately I cannot make the preparations for what needs to happen next myself," she said, turning her back to him, "but you will go to His Highness and apologise very profusely for what you've done, as well as for anything else he thinks you should apologise to him for."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Link said.

"But for the goddesses' sake do not grovel," Zelda said, fixing him with a deadly look. "Princes do not grovel, not for any reason."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Link said.

Zelda threw her hands up in the air with another exasperated sigh. "Now go," she said. "Don't speak of this to anyone and I expect to see you at dinner."

With a final "Yes, Your Majesty" in Zelda's direction Link stood, managed a stiff bow and excused himself from the room as quietly as possible. Ashei was predictably lying in wait just outside Zelda's door, hungry for gossip.

"What happened?" she demanded.

Link avoided the question. "Have you seen the Prince?" he asked.

"What?" Ashei said. "No I—"

Link walked away from her and proceeded down the hall, refusing to break his stride even when Ashei began to call after him. He didn't particularly want to talk to anybody and he especially didn't want to risk blowing his stack and making his present situation worse. Ashei, thankfully, seemed to sense his mood and didn't pursue him, leaving him to stalk away in search of the Prince.

The Prince, unfortunately, seemed to have decided that it would be a good time to make himself scarce again. After wasting the entire day searching for him Link found himself going back to Zelda with nothing to show for it. He could only hope that the Prince had returned to whatever wretched hovel he had been hiding in for the past few weeks and was not on his way to raise an army in Holodrum.

The two guards at the door straightened up when they saw him approaching. Even though he and Zelda were engaged her personal guard had still refused to leave off questioning him and they hadn't allowed him so much as a fleeting glimpse of the inside of her bedroom. As far as he knew he would never get a chance to see it either, since once they were married they would be moved to the grand interior apartment which, as far as Link could tell was nothing more than an excessively fancy bedroom in the centre of the castle.

"Halt," one of them said. "State your business."

"It's me, Link," Link said, in no mood for the guards' usual shenanigans. "Is this really necessary? I come here literally every night."

"State your business," the guard insisted.

"Tell Her Royal Majesty the Queen that Sir Link is here to escort her downstairs," Link said through gritted teeth.

"Downstairs?" the second guard put in. "For what purpose?"

"Now you're just messing with me," Link said.

At that point the door opened on its own, much to the guards' disappointment. Zelda glared at all of them through the chink in the door. "Sir Link?" she said icily. "Can I help you with something?"

"I've come to escort you down to dinner," Link said, accepting the stinging slight. "If you'll allow it, of course."

Zelda considered it for a moment and then shut the door without saying a word. She emerged a moment later, already dressed and ready to go. Link put out his arm and Zelda took it, keeping her posture rigid so that their arms didn't touch. He but at the same time he couldn't believe that she was being so petty.

Zelda turned her gaze on him expectantly. "Did you make amends with Prince Alistair?" she asked, the sharpness in her voice belying the hope that was also there.

Link hesitated before answering. If he told Zelda that he had not only failed to apologise to the Prince, but failed to find him, she would probably get angry at him all over again. He lied. "I did," he said and instantly felt terrible for it.

"And did the Prince accept your apology?" she asked.

Link worried at his lip. "His Highness needs some time to think about it," he said.

"Well, that's a start I suppose," Zelda said, still sounding anxious.

Dinner that night was simple, by castle standards, since the only people who were expected to be in attendance were Zelda, himself and the odd courtier or two who had decided to make themselves available. Zelda ate her meal in silence, which made things incredibly awkward since he was now sitting at the corner to her right. Link couldn't be sure whether it was because she was just angry at him or if she didn't want to air their dirty laundry in front of the severs that were standing watch in the four corners of the room, not quite out of sight but definitely not out of mind.

By the time the servers cleared away all the dinnerware and Link offered her his arm and escorted her back to the door of her room she hadn't spoken a word to him. The silence between them gnawed at him the entire way back.

"Listen, Zelda," he tried, "I'm really sorry about what I did, I just—"

"Can it wait until tomorrow, Link?" Zelda said quickly. "I think I really need a rest just now."

"But I—"

One of the guards helpfully opened the door and Zelda wasted no time escaping through it and then shutting the door on him, gently but firmly, leaving him feeling ridiculous and utterly miserable as he carried himself down the hall back to his quarters with as much dignity as he could manage. He had really done it now, he decided. Zelda would never forgive him. He managed to pull his boots off and remove his sword and mail shirt before throwing himself down on the mattress. For the first time in weeks, he slept but did not dream. When a shrill scream split the air in the middle of the night it took him less than a second to realise that it had come from the waking world.

He was out of bed in an instant, snatching up his sword from its place against his bedside table, and bounding barefoot down the hall to Zelda's quarters. Ashei, who was sequestered at the other end of the hall, had already beat him there. She was barefoot and armourless as well, shouting at the guards as she ordered them to break the door down.

"It won't budge," she explained as Link approached, looking to him for help.

Link nodded, understanding. "Stand aside," he ordered.

Ashei and the guards all did as he asked, quickly shuffling out of his way. Link took a deep breath, dug his heels in and charged the door. The door came right off its hinges, falling inwards into Zelda's room with a loud crash and all of them paused a moment at the entrance, trying to see through the darkness. Holding his hand up to indicate to his company that he wanted them to stay put, Link gripped his sword and cautiously entered.

Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room it became quite clear that something had happened. The entire place was in shambles. Zelda's bed had been completely upended with the pillows and sheets scattered all over the room. Her bookshelves, too, had been carelessly knocked over, dumping all her precious books on the ground. In fact, the only thing missing from the disorderly mishmash of Zelda's belongings was Zelda herself.

Focused entirely on uprooting some clue regarding Zelda's whereabouts somewhere in the mess, he was completely blindsided when Zelda herself leaped at him from the corner, swinging one of her pillows at him savagely. While pillows didn't normally make Link's list of effective weapons, Zelda's pillows was big, firm, possibly full of rocks, and were currently being wielded by a person with a real intent to injure. Taken by surprise, Link stumbled when the pillow connected with the back of his head, giving Zelda enough time to deliver a solid kick in the stomach that knocked the wind right out of him.

Ashei observed the scene unfolding in front of her with raised eyebrows. "Trouble in paradise?" she asked.

Link glared at Zelda accusingly. "What was that for?" he wheezed.

"Stay back!" Zelda cried, brandishing the pillow at him. "Stay away from me, you monster!"

"What are you talking about?" Link demanded, picking himself up.

"I said stay back!" Zelda repeated. In the darkness of the room he could clearly see her eyes begin to burn with an otherworldy blue light as she raised her free hand to send a bolt of magic in his direction.

Link froze in place. He had never experienced Zelda's magic first-hand but he had seen what it could do and knew that if he was hit it was sure to be an excruciatingly painful experience. That is, if it didn't incinerate him immediately. "Alright, it's okay," Link said, holding his hands up defensively. "Everything's alright. It's just me. It's Link. Ashei is here too. Ashei?"

"Um, good night Zel—I mean, _Your Majesty_ ," Ashei said awkwardly. "Is everything okay in here? We heard screaming and stuff."

Zelda's eyes darted between the two of them for several minutes. At length, to Link's relief, the wild look faded from her eyes. "Is that really you, Link?" she asked.

"Yes, it's me," Link said.

There was a dull thud as pillow landed harmlessly on the ground. "Oh, thank the goddesses!" she cried.

Link crossed the room to her in two long strides and took her by the shoulders. "What happened here?" he demanded. "What is all this?"

Zelda stared at him, eyes wide. "Oh, it was horrible, Link!" she said. "I was attacked by a monster! I tried to fight it off but it vanished into thin air and when you came in I thought that it had come back!"

That drew the attention of Ashei and Zelda's guards at once, they all closed in to hear the answer when Link asked, "What did it look like?"

"What did it look like?" she asked, avoiding his gaze. "You mean as in its physical appearance?"

Link forced her to look at him. "Zelda, what did it look like?" he repeated, a bit more forcefully.

Zelda bit her lip. "It looked a lot like you, Link," she admitted.

Several things happened at once then. Link opened his mouth to let out a confused "What?" but was cut short when the two guards that had been flanking him suddenly seized him, grabbing him by the arms and pulling him away from Zelda. Zelda let out a cry of outrage and grabbed a hold of his shirt as though she intended to tug him back from them.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "Release him at once!"

"Begging your pardon, Your Majesty," one of the guards said, "but didn't you say the intruder looked just like him?"

Link's eyes went wide. Surely they didn't think that he was the one who had attacked the Queen did they?

"Hey, hey, let's think about this for just a second, yeah?" Ashei said, putting his thoughts to words. "Let's not forget that this is the Queen's fiancé we're dealing with here. Why would the Queen's own fiancé attack her in the middle of the night?"

One of the guards fixed Link with a disapproving look. "Young men get some weird ideas sometimes," he said pointedly.

Zelda bristled. "It wasn't Sir Link!" she insisted. "When the intruder spoke to me it didn't speak in his voice! Do you think I don't recognise the voice of my own fiancé?"

"Your Majesty—" the guard said in a reasonable tone that seemed to do nothing but further irritate Zelda.

"No!" she said, drawing herself up to her full height. "Let go of him _this instant_."

The guards reluctantly complied and loosened their grip on his arm and Link stumbled slightly but caught himself before he fell. Turning to him, Zelda said, "Come away from them, Link." Link nearly obeyed, compelled by her authoritative tone, but ultimately stayed put.

"Zelda, it's alright," Link said, trying to diffuse the situation. "You can let them take me, if they want to."

"We do," one of the guards said under his breath.

"It's not alright," Zelda said. "I won't have them take you down to the dungeon, Link. That's no place for you!"

"We're all on the same side here, Zelda," he said. "They just want to make sure you're kept safe. If I'm a suspect it's only fair that they'd want to take me away and if that person comes back while I'm still locked up then I guess that it'll just prove I didn't do it."

Zelda looked to him and the guards and then, for some reason, to Ashei, an inscrutable expression on her face. At last, she turned her back to them. "Take him then," she said in a cold voice.

The guards took hold of him once again and made to carry him out the door when Zelda's voice interrupted them. "And don't you dare drag him," she said.

The guards let go of his arms and then, after some discussion, simply walked him out of the room, through the labyrinthine halls of Hyrule Castle, all the way down to the dungeons. The smell of it was still familiar although Link hadn't visited it since the invasion of Twilight, the smell of mould and mildew and human waste and cold, damp air but he was pleased to see that they had fixed the stairs, at the very least. He tried to ignore the cold water that dripped onto his head and down his nape from as the guards ushered him into a cell. He also tried not to mind when they made him but his foot out and subsequently chained it to floor before leaving him there.

Except for him, the dungeon was completely empty and every noise echoed through the stone arches and empty cages. There would be no Midna this time to come to his rescue, he would just have to wait until the castle guards caught the real crook and his reputation was cleared. Although the chain around his ankle made relaxing difficult, he decided that he ought to go back to sleep. The rag that had been provided for him to sleep on in the corner of the cell was dirty and stank of misery and he couldn't stand the sight of it. He left it where it was and curled up on the floor. It wasn't very comfortable and he slept poorly so when a voice came calling for him in the middle of the night did not escape his notice.

"Link?" it called. "Link, is that you?"

"Zelda?" he said, cautiously approaching the bars before his chain stopped him short an arm's length away from it.

A small tongue of blue flame flickered to life in Zelda's bare hand, illuminating her face and shoulders. She put a finger to her lips to silence him.

She was also barely dressed. Besides a thin robe and a silk slip there was hardly anything standing between her and complete indecency but even that wasn't much. He could still easily see the curve of her breasts, among other things, through the diaphanous fabric of her slip. He must have somehow missed those details in all the earlier commotion but he certainly noticed them now.

He stared. Link liked to think of himself as a decent, gentlemanly sort of person but even he couldn't resist the lure of the object of his affections coming to see him in her underwear. Zelda, noticing what he was unabashedly staring at, quirked a small smile at him but made no move to close her robe or draw his attention away.

"I couldn't leave you down here by yourself," she whispered.

"Ah," Link said, somewhat distractedly.

"Oh do behave, Link," Zelda said. "One would think you didn't know what women looked like."

"Have you ever considered that maybe I don't?" Link said.

"Well, then," Zelda said. "I suppose that after you and I are married I shall have to teach you a brief lesson in anatomy."

Link blushed at the implication. Pointing his eyes in another direction was a struggle but once he had managed it her said, "Did you really come down here to see me?"

"Yes," she said. The slender fingers of Zelda's hand slipped through the bars of the cell to grip Link's tightly. "I feel safer around you."

Link squeezed her hand. "I'm glad," he said.

"I promise that I'll get you out of here," she said and, to his surprise, she stuck her head through the bars and planted a kiss on his knuckles.

Link felt beyond ridiculous when his breath caught in his throat at the gesture. He had kissed Zelda's hand more times than he could count and knew very well that it meant nothing but somehow having her do the same thing to him felt more intimate somehow. If his blood hadn't been racing before at the sight of her, it was definitely doing so now. He was both thankful for and annoyed with the iron bars separating him from her; the sort of thing he was thinking of doing wasn't decent.

Zelda, rather than shying away from his hungry, searching gaze, boldly looked right back at him. After standing there, fingers intertwined for what felt like an eternity, she said, "We should sit."

Link nodded and took a seat on the ground and Zelda followed his example, leaning on the bars to maintain contact with him. A bit of rust broke away from the iron bars and soiled the sleeve of her robe but she paid no attention to it. Link couldn't help but feel terrible for making such a mess of things and making her come down to such a terrible place but her presence there made everything alright somehow. He rested his head on his shoulder and fell asleep and, for the second time, he did not dream.

* * *

When he woke up the next morning Zelda was gone without so much as an imprint on the ground to show where she had been. Link would have thought that the whole thing had been a product of his imagination if it hadn't been so vivid. He could still feel the imprint her lips had left on his fingers, burned onto his hand forever like a brand. She had never kissed him of her own volition even once before, not even a single kiss on the cheek. Surely this meant some sort of turning point in their relationship.

He wasn't let out that day, though. Around lunch time one of the guards arrived with a plate of food for him. It wasn't anything fancy, because he wasn't allowed to have the utensils that would be necessary to eat something like that, but it wasn't the sort of slop he imagined prisoners usually got. Link devoured it before the guard had even moved out of his line of sight.

He wasn't let out the next day either, or the day after that, or the day after that but Zelda visited him every night, her annoyance at him for punching Prince Alistair in the mouth apparently long forgotten. She told him that she had every capable man at her disposal on her attacker's trail and that she was sure he would be let out soon. Somehow, Link doubted that.

His fifth day in jail passed slowly and by the time he finally heard footfalls rapidly coming in his direction he was bored out of his mind. Link looked up eagerly, expecting Zelda. When he saw that his visitor was just another burly, gruff-looking guard he sighed and went back to counting the bricks. It wasn't until the guard took a ring of keys from his belt and began going through them one by one that he finally caught Link's attention. Link jumped to his feet at once, briefly worried that he was about to be hauled off to an execution. The guard paused long enough to throw an unconcerned glance in Link's direction before going back to sorting through the keys.

"Am I free to go?" Link asked as the guard plugged the keyhole and began to unlock the cell.

"Yep," the guard replied.

"Finally," Link groaned. "So you caught the intruder then."

"Huh? Nah. The Queen gave us the order to release you so here I am, releasing you," the guard said. "Why don't you sit back down on that bench over there and I'll come and unchain you in a second, okay Sir Hero?"

Trying to contain his excitement, Link returned to the bench and waited to be let out. When he looked back his jailer was inexplicably lying flat on the ground, the ring of keys still clutched in his hand.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Link said, worried that he had somehow fainted.

The guard didn't stir or do anything to show that he had heard. Link came closer. He was unable to get his hands or feet through the bars with his leg manacled to the floor so he had to settle for rattling his chain loudly and shouting. It was then he noticed the stream of dark liquid that had begun to flow from a deep, crooked gash in the jailer's neck, dyeing the collar of his shirt a bright red. Link let out of a cry of alarm, his hands going to his back for his sword and shield only to find them missing. He cursed loudly.

"Good evening, blood of my blood and brother of mine," an unfamiliar voice said.

Cautiously, Link drew his gaze away from the dead body towards the source of the voice. His mouth dropped open. Standing there, almost invisible in the darkness beyond his cell, was someone with an exact duplicate of his own face.


	10. Chapter 10

"And what happened then?"

"I charged the bars of the cell," Link said for the umpteenth time.

"And then?"

"I fell," Link said acrimoniously. "I was in chains, if you recall, your lordship."

"And then what?" Lord Cox demanded of him.

"The intruder disappeared," Link replied.

"What do you mean he disappeared?" Lord Cox said. "Be specific."

"I mean he vanished," Link replied. "He just melted into the darkness."

Lord Cox slammed his hand down on the table in front of Link in what was meant to be a threatening gesture. Link didn't flinch, and returned the lord's glare that with a look that was part hateful and part disgusted. Embarrassingly, his stomach chose that moment to voice a complaint or two to the entire room.

Link frowned down at it, willing it to be quiet. It would not, and with good reason because he was fairly starving. The dark, depressing dungeon beneath Hyrule Castle was hardly a true dungeon at all. Thieves and other petty criminals who were arrested in Castle Town stayed only briefly in the Castle Town dungeon before they were carted off to the countryside to serve out their sentences there. Even high-profile criminals enjoyed only a brief sojourn in the dungeons before they met their fates.

As a result, during Link's stay in the dungeon the entire complex had been silent and completely empty, save for him. Guards came by once every three hours to check on him, and three times each day one of them would come by with a meal for him. Without the light of the sun to guide him, it was the only way to keep track of time. By his estimates, the guard had been killed in the wee hours of the morning, around midnight, meaning that the next guard had not arrived until three, by which time the body had grown cold and the doppelganger had long gone.

The next guard who swung by had taken one look at the corpse and, after hearing Link's account of what happened, dashed off down the corridors in search of the killer despite Link's protests. At about six o' clock, by the time the third shift finally swung by the second guard still hadn't returned and Link doubted that he ever would.

The third guard, however, was less amenable to hearing Link's story than the last one and Link quickly found himself chained and dragged upstairs to wait for Lords to arrive for his hearing. Unfortunately highborn sorts were infamously late risers, and although they arrived with unusual alacrity, no doubt enthused by the idea of doing away with the Queen's lowborn fiancé, but they still took their own precious time arriving.

By the time all nine lords had assembled some two hours later, Link was tired and he desperately wanted something to eat but despite his persistent and repeated requests, no food appeared forthcoming. He was half-tempted to take a bite out of Lord Cox, just to show him he meant business.

"You don't honestly expect us to believe that, do you, Sir Link?" Lord Cox asked.

"You asked me what happened," Link said with a scowl. "I'm telling you what happened."

"I don't quite think I like your tone, Sir Link," Lord Cox said sharply.

Link narrowed his eyes. "I don't quite like yours either," he said.

"You're on unstable ground as it is, Sir Link, you've already been accused of high treason," Lord Cox growled. "Don't make me add murder to the list."

Link nearly rolled his eyes at that. While it hadn't been readily apparent when he was first hauled into the room in chains, it was now quite clear to him that he was not going to be given a fair trial. If they had their way they would see him found guilty punished to the full extent of the law. Luckily, in their eagerness to see him dispatched, they had forgotten to invite Zelda to the trial and no verdict could be passed without her presence.

Before Link could tell Lord Cox exactly where he could put his list, the heavy wooden doors at the end of the hall began to open with a great creaking of hinges. Lord Cox looked away from his interrogation of Link, ready to sink his teeth into the poor fool who had interrupted him, only to fall silent before he saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Your Majesty!" he cried.

Link craned his neck just enough to catch a glimpse of Zelda charging towards them around Lord Cox's broad-shouldered bulk. She didn't exactly charge, being too dignified to move at anything faster than a brisk trot, but her short, crisp steps and the square set of her shoulders made it clear that she was biting mad.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zelda demanded of the assembled peerage. "How dare you take my fiancé into custody without informing me?"

"Your Majesty—" Lord Cox began.

"And then you have the audacity to attempt to question him in secret, without my knowledge, like a common criminal!" she continued, looking directly at Lord Cox.

"We did not think the proceedings of this hearing would concern you, Your Majesty," Lord Cox said.

"Didn't concern me? Perhaps you are forgetting, Lord Cox, that Sir Link is my betrothed and will soon be Prince of Hyrule," she said frostily. "Please bear in mind that any and all debates regarding him are my business as well. Or did you expect me to stand idly by while you haul him off to an execution?"

Lord Cox fell silent and Zelda glared at him for a moment more before asking, "What crime is he accused of?"

"Murder, Your Majesty," one of the soldiers said. "One of the guards was found in front of his cell in a pool of his own blood."

Zelda nodded her thanks to the guard and then turned expectantly to Link. "Is this true?" she asked.

"Yes," Link replied, "but I didn't murder anyone. That guard stopped by to let me out under your orders, but your little friend from the other night apparently decided to pay me a visit at the same time. I didn't see what happened after that. When I looked around the guard was already dead."

Zelda's expression faltered for a moment. A brief glimmer of that same wild, profound fear that he had smelled on her that first night flickered across her face, then she schooled her expression into an impassive mask and the fear was gone. "You saw it?"

"He looked exactly like me," Link said, shaking his head as he tried to make sense of it all. "Exactly like me, but his voice was all wrong. After he murdered the guard, I raised the alarm, but no-one answered."

"If Her Majesty's attacker and Sir Link's killer are indeed the same man then the threat on our hands may be greater than we thought," a new voice said. Link was curious how there could be any greater threat than a plot to assassinate the Queen, but he was glad to hear from someone who didn't seem to have his imprisonment foremost in their mind. At length, he was able to recognise the owner of the voice as Lord Curley. Link had never heard Lord Curley speak before; he hadn't realised that he could.

"I propose we start a special task force to catch this criminal," Lord Curley said." Sir Link, of course, should be the head of this task force. It is his place as the Queen's champion to deal with this sort of threat, and he is the only person who has seen this person with his own eyes, Her Majesty excluded."

"A worthy idea, Lord Curley. I shall consider it," Zelda said, looking directly at Lord Cox once more to see if he would reply.

Lord Cox, realising that he had already incurred enough of the Queen's wrath for one day, wisely kept his mouth shut and his opinions to himself. However, one of the women hovering over Zelda's shoulder snorted derisively and then tried to disguise her indiscretion with a loud cough.

"Is there a problem, Lady Chiswick?" Zelda asked.

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, this is madness," Lady Chiswick said. "We are trying to ascertain whether or not Sir Link is the killer in the first place and Your Majesty and Lord Curley want to make him head of a task force to catch a killer that may or may not be him?"

"Sir Link would never take an innocent life," Zelda said dismissively. "And if his word is not enough for you, know that I have been down to his cell myself and I know for a fact that he could barely even reach the bars chained as he was, far less for slit anyone's throat."

"You've gone down to the dungeons to see him?" Lady Chiswick said with interest.

Zelda shot her a scathing look. "He. Is. My. Fiancé," she said. "Of course I would go to see him."

"Your Majesty—" Lord Cox began

"Enough! I don't know why I am even entertaining this drivel; this is not even a real meeting of the Council!" Zelda said. "You've already upset me enough for the day without forcing me to sit through more of what I perceive to be a grievous waste of my time. You are all dismissed."

Several members of the Council, Lady Chiswick in particular, looked as though they might protest but Zelda decisively ended the conversation by getting up from her chair. The guards unlocked Link's manacles at once and the chains slithered off him, falling heavily to the ground and the Council watched in silence as Link fell into step with Zelda and the two of them left the great hall together.

They took the circuitous route back to Zelda's study, and not a word passed between them during that whole time. Only once they were both safely within the confines of her study and the door was shut firmly behind them did Zelda let out a loud sigh and clasp her hand to her chest.

"Good goddesses, that was nerve wracking," she said, her voice trembling.

"Hey, it's alright," he said, as soothingly as we could. "I'm alright. We're alright."

Unsure of what else could say to calm her, he opened his arms for a hug and, to his relief, she readily came to him. Her arms wound tightly around his waist, fingers digging into the fabric of his clothes like she was afraid that he would drift away from her.

"What am I to do with you, Link?" she said finally. "You have such a knack for getting into trouble. How am I supposed to keep you safe if you can't even keep yourself safe?"

Link didn't know what to say to that and instead pressed a tentative kiss to her cheek. Zelda's shoulders relaxed and she leaned further into him, pressing their bodies flush together. Link tried to ignore the butterflies that had suddenly taken flight in his stomach.

"You guys need some privacy?" Ashei's voice said suddenly.

Zelda let out a little cry of alarm and pushed Link off her, scooting a respectable distance away from him. He shot Ashei a baleful look for interrupting their moment with her intrusion, which Ashei ignored entirely. It was beyond him how Ashei was able to sneak around so efficiently.

"You've done well, Ashei," Zelda said. "I dread what the Council might have done to Link, had you not informed me of his intentions."

"I'm much more concerned by the fact that a guy who had the guts to murder someone right in front of me is still running free," Link said brusquely. "Lord Curley had the right idea. We should be trying to catch this bastard."

"Lord Curley does have a point," Zelda said, "but we must be careful. However human that creature looked, it was most certainly magical in origin. We can't ignore the idea that someone may have sent it after us specifically, in which case sending you after it would be a poor choice indeed."

"Fine," Link said, unwilling to let the matter drop. "I won't go. We'll send the soldiers after it."

"Link," Zelda said in a long-suffering voice. "This creature, whatever it is, killed an innocent man just because he happened to be near you. What do you think it would do if we sent troops after it?"

"So what are we supposed to do then?" Link demanded. "Wait for him to come back? What if he succeeds the second time?"

"Well unless you have a way to apprehend its master then I'm afraid that that's exactly what we shall have to do," Zelda said. "I'm sorry, Link."

"Hmmm, well that shouldn't be too difficult," Ashei said, scratching her chin in an exaggerated gesture. "Well, who do we know who can use magic and has beef with Link? Oh, I know…"

"Prince Alistair," Link snarled, finishing the thought for her. "That rat bastard. I'll kick his ass."

"Link, please! Language!" Zelda reprimanded.

"Fine. What I meant to say is that I intend to apply my foot to His Highness' posterior with great force," he said. Does that suffice?"

Zelda groaned and threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Yeah, let's kick his ass," Ashei said eagerly. Ashei was never selfish where handing out beatings was concerned. "I've never beaten up a prince before. I hear they're soft and squishy, like babies."

"No-one will be beating anyone up," Zelda said decisively.

"Alright fine, but he's still the prime suspect in an assassination attempt on the Queen's life," Link said, a bit too eagerly. "Let's arrest him."

"A high-profile suspect," Zelda put in. "We don't need to strain out relationship with Holodrum any more than necessary by arresting their youngest heir, now do we?"

Link only looked at her sullenly.

Zelda groaned and rolled her eyes at him again. "Fine, we shall just have to agree to disagree," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a bath waiting for me upstairs. It's much too early for this sort of nonsense. As for you, you should go up to your quarters and get some rest. You look positively exhausted."

Link felt exhausted, but he'd be damned if he admitted it, especially when there was danger around. "I understand," was his only reply, a reply that often preceded an act of disobedience.

Zelda must have somehow picked up on it, for she turned to Ashei and said, "Ashei, see that Link returns to his quarters without distraction."

Link opened his mouth to protest but Zelda was gone, turning on her heel and departing from the room in a flurry of silk skirts. Ashei grinned up at Link and elbowed him in the ribs. "Bedtime, kiddo," she said.

Troublesome though she was, Ashei was as loyal as they came and saw to it that he made it to his barely recognised his bedroom anymore, it was so tidy. His bed had been straightened and made with fresh sheets, the marble floors were freshly swept and gleaming and all his battle trophies neatly arranged on his previously-empty bookshelves. The servant girl that had been in the room before them, sweeping up whatever single specks of dust had been, gave a loud squeak when he entered and almost dropped her broom in alarm when she saw them enter.

"Alright, get in," Ashei said, jerking her head in the direction of his bed.

"Ashei this is ridiculous," Link protested. Ashei would be easier to convince than Zelda. "We're wasting valuable time we should be using to catch this thing."

Unfortunately, Ashei was made of sterner stuff than he had expected. "Don't make me say it again," she warned him with a smile. "I'll put you in there myself."

Link groaned but complied. He stripped off his dirty, smeared clothing in a last ditch attempt to scare her off but Ashei remained completely unfazed by his display of indecency. The servant girl, however, looked on with a mixture of discomfort and avid curiosity as he stripped down to his underclothes and climbed between the sheets.

Ashei nodded her approval at him and excused herself from the room, nearly dragging the maid out with her. "Make yourself comfy," she said.

Link spitefully refused to make himself comfy. Several times, he peeked out the door to see if Ashei was still there but she always was and she made threatening gestures in his direction when she saw him looking at her. She was obviously deriving way too much enjoyment from pushing him around. Somewhere in between Link's petulant sulking and devising plans that would get rid of Ashei, sleep finally claimed him. He did not rest peacefully, visions of Alistair's gaunt face and his double's cruel, bloodthirsty eyes haunted his dreams, chasing him, throwing insults, clawing at the edges of his consciousness.

When he finally pried his eyes open he knew at once that despite his unwillingness he had managed to sleep the day away. The heavy velvet drapes had been shut to keep the daylight out, but a column of stark white moonlight still streamed through a chink in the curtains, illuminating the unused desk by the window.

Cursed himself for falling asleep, Link fought his way free of the sheets and reached for his sword, but instead of the well-worn hilt of his blade his fingers closed around empty air. Link cursed again. He usually slept with his sword leaned against his bedside table, within arms' reach in case he had to answer a call in the middle of the night, but now the room was clean and the weapon was gone.

He dressed himself in the dark and then spent a good fifteen minutes pawing around for his sword before he eventually found it displayed on a wall-mounted stand. His shield was nearby, wedged into the crevice between his chest of drawers and the wall. What was the point of having a clean room if it only made things harder to find?

He eased the door open a crack and peeped through it, searching for Ashei, but the hall was as still and silent as the grave. Ashei must have given up trying to outwait him and gone to bed. He pushed the door open further, let himself out and proceeded down the hall as quietly as possible, making sure to take the staircase that led away from Zelda's apartments, not towards it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ashei's voice demanded in a voice that was sharp, but quiet. Obviously she had no intention of raising an alarm.

Link turned slowly. "Depends on who's asking?" he said.

Ashei gave him a measured look. "A friend," she replied at length, meaning that whatever he said next would be off the record.

"I'm going after Prince Alistair," he whispered. "I need to know if he sent that double after me and Zelda."

"Zelda said to leave it alone," Ashei said.

"Zelda says a lot of things," Link retorted, "but she's not a military woman. Are we really going to leave another dark wizard to run around the realm and turn into the next Ganondorf?"

When Ashei did not reply immediately Link knew he had her but, troublesome to the end, she put up a last bit of token resistance. "Okay, so what if you track down Prince Alistair and it turns out that he's the guy?" Ashei demanded. "What are you going to do then?"

The fingers of Link's sword hand twitched. "Let's hope for both our sakes that it isn't him," he said carefully.

Ashei was not fooled by the euphemism. She was just as battle-hardened as he, if not more so, and had long since come to understand the secret language of warriors. She lingered on the landing a moment longer, torn, and then pattered down the stairs to join him.

"You don't have to come with me," Link said as graciously as possible.

"Link, shut up and drop the macho act, yeah?" Ashei scoffed. "I'll be damned if I let you take this thing down by yourself and hog all the glory as usual. You need an extra pair of eyes out there. I'm coming whether you want me to or not."


	11. Chapter 11

"Come away from there, Highness, you'll drive yourself batty," his lordship said, gingerly sipping tea from his china tea service.

Prince Alistair ignored him and continued to stare into the still water of the half-full basin. It was dark, which the Prince found troubling. As long as the doppelganger was awake and active, the water came to life with images of whatever it was looking at, and it had been his only real window to the outside world.

Since the start of this dreadful plan, Alistair had been in hiding, holed up in a rickety little house in upper westside Castle Town. As far as he knew, he was safe there, as no-one had thought to look for him in the bad part of town, but to say that his new lodging did not exactly meet his standards was a severe understatement.

The only light in the room was from a lopsided brass candelabra and the basin itself, at night the supports creaked and groaned like the whole building meant to come down on him, and the straw of his thin mattress had left a red patch on his arm that would not stop itching. His lordship, sitting cross-legged on a wooden stool and draped in silk and velvet, looked more out of place than ever. The Prince hated him for it.

"Where is that wretched creature?" the Prince demanded, taking care not to upset the basin.

"Patience is a virtue, Your Highness," said his lordship, taking another sip of his tea.

His lordship was always sipping tea, a habit that Prince Alistair found especially infuriating. "Perhaps you're forgetting, Your Lordship, that that doppelganger was supposed to have come straight back here after auditing the Hero's hearing?" he said sweetly. "That hearing was almost two hours ago, and yet I don't see doppelganger. Can you tell me why that is?"

"I'm sure I don't know, Highness, perhaps it's tired," his lordship said. "It's had a rather tiring night."

"I'd hardly call that tiring," the Prince snorted. "You know well as I that that creature enjoys killing things."

His lordship looked thoughtful at that, but before he could impart any of usual 'advice' the basin flickered to life, bathing the Prince's face in soft grey light. The water rippled and changed to an image of grey stone walls, marble floors and high, arched ceilings. So the doppelganger was still in Hyrule Castle. He ought to have known.

"You called, Master?" said the doppelganger's deep baritone.

"About time," Prince Alistair said. "Get back here now."

"Understood, Master," the doppelganger replied.

"And please bring back some ice for His Highnesses lip," his lordship put in, leaning over the basin as well. "It's looking rather poorly."

The Prince put a hand to his split lip. The Hero had very nearly knocked his teeth out; the man had a mean haymaker. "Does it really look that bad?" he wondered aloud.

"Yes," the lord replied, going back to his tea.

The water rippled again, and the image of the Castle's interior image went jumbled and nonsensical for a moment before going dark. The doppelganger was on the move again, traversing whatever strange shadowy dimension it used to hop instantaneously from place to place.

Luckily, the doppelganger seemed to sense his annoyance and wasted no time in getting back. The shadows in the corner of the room shifted and roiled for a moment before the doppelganger soundlessly materialised out of it. Its boots clicked smartly on the wood flooring as it approached the Prince. He nearly flinched when it held out a burlap bag for his inspection.

"I brought what his lordship requested," it said.

Prince Alistair snatched the bag, careful not to make contact with the doppelganger's cold, clammy skin as he did so. The doppelganger's red eyes burned a hole in his back as he emptied the bag onto the table and, to his surprise, instead of a hunk of ice a frozen human hand tumbled out of the sack and landed on the table. One of its brittle fingers cracked off. The Prince let out a cry and jumped well away from it.

"What is that?" he demanded, pointing at the hand with trembling fingers. "I asked for ice, not that!"

"I thought you would like it," the doppelganger said without inflection. "It thaws slower than ice."

His lordship let out a loud guffaw. "The creature has a point," he said.

"I'm not putting this on my face," Prince Alistair said disgustedly, resisting the urge to throw the hand at his lordship's head. He held the awful thing at arm's length and dropped it into the doppelganger's waiting hands. "Where did you even find this?"

The doppelganger stared at him for a good long while before its fingers at last closed around the hand. "Snowpeak, Master," it said. Although he knew the double was not capable of emotion, Alistair swore he detected a hint of rancour in its voice.

"Well then take it  _back_  to Snowpeak and bring me some ice," he said. "Real ice this time. Bring me any more frozen body parts and I'll put you back in that basin."

"My apologies, Master," the doppelganger said. "I will find something else to suit your tastes."

"See that you do," Alistair said haughtily.

Just as the doppelganger began to tuck the hand into the pouch hanging from the belt of its tunic, there was a forceful knock on the door. "You in there!" said a woman's voice. "Open up."

The Prince skittered back. "Who is that?" he demanded in a whisper.

"That sounds like the Legendary Hero and his companion," the doppelganger put in. "He has been roaming these streets for several hours. Searching for us, I'll bet."

Prince Alistair tore at his hair. "Why didn't you tell us that?" he demanded.

The doppelganger looked at him steadily, then it shrugged. "You didn't ask," it replied.

The Prince wrung his hands. "He's right top of us!" he cried. "Get rid of him!"

"Please clarify so there are no misunderstandings," the doppelganger said, grinning slyly. "What exactly do you mean by 'get rid of him'?"

"No," his lordship interjected. "Killing him is not a part of the plan."

"Damn the plan, he knows something! This is all your fault, you know!" Prince Alistair fumed, pointing at the door. He sounded petulant even to his own ears, yet he found that he could not stop his tirade. "We've been watching that idiot for weeks, and if we'd just gotten rid of him when I wanted to none of this would have happened! But no, we couldn't do this the easy way, could we?  _You_ stayed my hand and a fat lot of good that's done us!"

Much to Prince Alistair's frustration, his lordship merely ignored him. The lord seemed to be the sort of man who preferred to play with his food before eating it and what had once been a simple plan had evolved into something rather nasty. Zelda had become the least of his concerns, he was now behind what could be easily perceived as an assassination attempt on the Queen.

If that information ever came to light, there would be nothing that could protect him, the Council would surely see him hanged. And then there was his lordship, who seemed more than content to risk Prince Alistair's neck for his own selfish ambition. Alistair would see the Hero, the Queen and his lordship all dead before he let that happen, damn them.

"Scare him off by any means necessary," his lordship said to the doppelganger, "but don't kill him."

"Certainly," the doppelganger said, and it melted into the darkness before the Prince could get another word in.

Alistair gritted his teeth. "You had no right!" he cried. "I am that creature's master, I'm the one who—"

The lord let out a laboured sigh. "I do believe your nerves are beginning to get the better of you, Highness," his lordship said. "Perhaps you should sit down, have a cup of calming tea. It would do you well."

"I don't need any calming tea!" Prince Alistair fumed.

His lordship, no longer inclined to say anything, returned to his tea service without another word, leaving Alistair to his basin. The Prince's own dark-circled eyes, sunken above gaunt, hollow cheeks, stared tiredly at him from the water, and he could help but fight the feeling that his lordship's plan had ruined him.

* * *

It hadn't been hard to sneak out of Hyrule Castle. Link did it all the time, although not due to any real skill on his part. A person easily could say that the guards were 'distracted' if they wanted to be nice, or 'utterly negligent' if they did not. It was only a matter of knowing which guards could safely be sneaked around and which needed to be avoided at all costs. Most of them seemed more interested in guarding the royal topiaries than doing anything of note.

Getting out of the Castle was only the first hurdle to overcome, though, there was still the matter of deciding where to search for the Prince. Despite all his blustering and bravado, Link hadn't the slightest idea where to find him. Initially, he had thought of using the Triforce of Courage to seek out the Prince's magical energy, but doing that would be like throwing up a beacon for Zelda, who he was currently disobeying. Their only choice would would have to undertake the operation systematically on foot, and hope they got a clue about the Prince's whereabouts to work with.

"No-one's here," Ashei grumbled after knocking on about their hundredth door. "Let's move on to the next one, yeah?"

Link considered pressing her into waiting a bit longer, but decided against it. If he upset Ashei there was the very real chance that she would go into a snit and leave him, and she had already made herself indispensable. It had not occurred to him that the Hero of Hyrule could not go about in the middle of the night, knocking on people's doors, and demanding entry in the name of the Queen, not if he wanted his doings to remain a secret.

Ashei was less recognisable than he was, she already had the look of a vagabond swordswoman besides, and she had already concocted an elaborate story that she was looking for a long-lost brother who matched the Prince's description exactly. No-one seemed to question her appearance at their door.

"This is so pointless," Ashei said, shuffling over to the next door. They had been combing the neighbourhoods for hours, and both their legs were cold and quite stiff. "When you said you were going after the Prince, I thought you had an actual  _plan_. Like an idea of where he is, or how to find him."

"I do have a plan," Link reminded her.

"Knocking on everybody's door isn't a plan Link," Ashei said. "It's barely even an idea."

"We  _will_  find him," Link assured her.

"You're a terrible plan-maker," Ashei said simply.

"I'm a soldier, Ash, not a tactician," Link reminded her. "I hardly—" The temperature in the alleyway suddenly dropped. "What was that?"

Ashei's fist stopped en route to the door and her sword was in her hand so quickly that it seemed to simply have appeared from nothing. The only thing there was a strange, bent old man. His face was deeply shadowed by the hood of a worn travelling cloak, preventing Link from discerning any of his features.

"You two look lost," the man said. "Can I help you two with something."

"We're not lost," Ashei said, not sheathing her sword. "Buzz off."

The man nodded quickly and scuttled off down the road.

"That was rude," Link whispered.

"Don't be dense, Link," Ashei said. "That guy's not just asking for curiosity's sake; he's some kind of mole. He's just going to report what we're doing to his head honcho or something."

"Alistair?" Link wondered hopefully.

"Could be for anyone," Ashei said. "There's lots of eyes and ears on these streets. We're not exactly in a good neighbourhood right now. Now can I please do the lame job you brought me out here to do?"

Link stepped aside to allow Ashei access to the door. After three knocks a woman answered it, peering uneasily into Ashei's face. Link dodged out of sight before he could be spotted. "Can I help you with something?" she asked.

"Yeah, miss, I was just looking for a guy. My brother, actually," Ashei said. "I heard tell that he lives around these parts and I was wondering if you knew him."

Beneath Ashei's rambling about what the Prince looked like, a faint whistling noise caught Link's ear. He dropped to the ground just in time to avoid the sword that sailed over his head and cleaved a deep chunk out of the support behind him. The woman Ashei was speaking to let out a shrill scream and slammed the door.

Link scrambled to regain his footing. "You!" he spat.

"Me," the doppelganger said agreeably. "I didn't expect to see you so soon, Sir Hero."

"You dropped in on me!" Link reminded the creature, drawing his sword from its sheath with all possible speed.

Ashei looked between the two of them, wearing a befuddled expression that Link had never seen on her face before. "Holy shit, Link! He looks just like you!" she cried.

"I  _know_ , Ash," Link said, then to the doppelganger he added, "Why are you here?"

The doppelganger smiled. "For you of course. But don't worry, I'm not going to kill you," it said. "That being said, I think you can live without an arm or two, right?"

It tried to circle to Link's left, most likely in an attempt to reach the sword that was embedded in the wooden post behind Link's head. Link refused to take the bait, taking an experimental thrust at the doppelganger as a warning. It retreated immediately, holding its hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"There's no need for that," the doppelganger said. "I'm just following orders, brother."

"Don't call me that," Link said sternly. "I'm not your brother."

"Ouch, that was mean," the doppelganger said, still pacing about as its eyes searched for a way to get its hands on the sword.

"You're wrong, Sir Link, we are a lot alike, you and I. For example, a little birdie once told me you bite," the doppelganger said sweetly, a slow smile spreading over its face. "So do I."

The creature suddenly lunged at him, jaws snapping. Link was caught off-guard, but managed to get his sword in between him and the double before it could sink its teeth into the unguarded flesh of his neck. The doppelganger was undeterred by the weapon and continued to snap at him. Distracted by the doppelganger's teeth, he was unable to stop the doppelganger from planting its boot in his stomach and forcing him backward.

By the time he had regained his balance, the doppelganger had pried its sword free of the post and was advancing on him with manic glee in its eyes. It swung its sword around a few times in a movement that was eerily similar to the one Link used to loosen his arm before a fight. Link waited for it to come to him, then swung his sword at it with as much force as he could muster. The doppelganger brought its own sword up to block the sound of steel on steel rang through the air as the doppelganger parried the blow and then unleashed a hurricane of attacks on him.

"You're getting tired, Sir Link," it observed, grinning at him with its awful shark-teeth.

Link didn't answer. Holding the creature at bay was hard enough without the added strain. The doppelganger's strength was about equal to his, but he'd been in a dungeon for five days and he hadn't eaten. It was only a matter of time before the doppelganger got the better of him.

"Hey, stupid, stop talking during the fight!" Ashei called from the side-lines.

Both Link and the doppelganger looked up in confusion and, without warning, the blade of Ashei's sword tore through the doppelganger's stomach. The doppelganger's strength faltered for long enough for Link to grab hold of its wrist and twist its sword from its grasp. The doppelganger fell to its knees, letting out a loud cry that grated on Link's ears and made his hair stand on end, it was so unlike anything human. Its fingers dug into the wound in its stomach but instead of a wide, gash there was only a clean, bloodless hole.

"What in the world," Link said.

The doppelganger had begun to dissipate, its body dissolving into nothing like ink. Its eyes, burning the bright, menacing red of hot coals, were the last to go, melting away and pooling on the ground in a puddle of jet black liquid. The doppelganger continued to wail long after its mouth, and presumably its power to wail, had vanished with the rest of it. Link stared wide-eyed at the transformation, transfixed by the unique grotesqueness of it all.

"Run!" Ashei shouted.

"What?" Link cried.

"Run!" Ashei said. She grabbed Link's wrist and pulled, nearly yanking his arm out of its socket as she sprinted away.

A layer of pure darkness began to spread from the spot where the doppelganger had been standing, crawling towards them in a thick, viscous solution. The sconces and streetlamps flickered weakly as it approached, and then went out, their flames snuffed out by some invisible force.

Link ran.


	12. Chapter 12

They both burst out of the alleyway, chests heaving, lungs burning, but the advancing wall of blackness stopped precisely at the corner of the alley, leaving an eerily precise straight line at the boundary between the alleyway and the main road. It lingered there for a moment before it began to recede, creeping back into the alley without a trace left behind.

"What the hell was that?" Ashei panted, once the shock had passed.

Link shook his head, trying to make sense of what they had just seen. He had killed an overabundance of grotesqueries over the course of his short, albeit storied, career but he had never encountered something that seemed quite so evil.

"Well, at least we killed that sucker," Ashei said. "Come on, I need a stiff drink after that one."

Link grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back before she could walk off. "What about Prince Alistair?" he asked sternly.

Ashei shrugged. "Now that we've taken care of his little lapdog, I figure Zelda can deal with him," she said. "There's nothing he can do to us now."

"Prince Alistair is practising dark magic and needs to be stopped," Link said firmly. "Did you see what that thing could do? It made the whole street cold, just by standing there! It put out all the lights without even touching them! If the Prince could make something like that once, he could just as easily do it again. We need to find him."

"Good goddesses you are difficult," Ashei said, putting a hand to her temple. "Listen, Link, leave the Prince Alistair alone, for now. I think I know someone who can help with this." Link nodded, acquiesced. "Good," Ashei said, thrusting a mailed hand in his direction. "Now give it here."

"Give what?" Link asked.

Ashei groaned. "The sword. Duh," she said.

Link looked down at the extra sword clenched tightly in his fist. He hadn't even realised he had still been holding it. He inspected the blade briefly before handing it over to Ashei, expecting to find a spell written in ancient, evil runes or something equally incriminating, but the weapon was nothing special really. Its only distinguishing feature was the colour; the blade, guard, and pommel were all the same dusky black colour.

"What will you do with it?" he asked, watching Ashei slide the sword into her belt.

"I'll take it to my people," Ashei said. "If they can prove that it belongs to the Prince, we could have legal grounds to arrest him. How's that sound? Now you get back to bed, it'll be dawn soon and no doubt Zelda'll want you for lessons or something. Better get back before you're missed, yeah?"

Link took his time getting back to Hyrule Castle, knowing that there was not like to be anyone awake at this hour, aside from partygoers and drunkards, and the weather was nice enough that he was in no hurry to get inside. By the time he got back to the castle it was still too early for anyone of consequence to be awake, and he still had time to climb back into bed for a nap.

He jolted awake sometime around noon, if the position of the sun was anything to go by. He had overslept again, clearly castle life was turning him soft. He rolled out of bed and knelt beside it, feeling around in the dark area beneath the mattress until his fingers caught on a brass handle. He tugged on it, dragging the brass handle and the chest it was attached to across the polished floor and out from under the bed.

Link's secret chest was far more ornate than any he had ever encountered on his adventures. It was large and rectangular, made of a finely lacquered red wood covered in brass leaf work and it needed an actual key to open. Zelda had commissioned it especially for him as a gift when he came into her service. Aside from his ceremonial armour, Link had nothing of real value to put in it, so he used it to hold all his lesser-used equipment.

The dominion rod, sleeping forever now that its purpose had been fulfilled, had a more or less found its permanent place inside the chest; the ball-and-chain, too heavy to carry without Midna's help, had shortly joined it along with the spinner, which was more flashy than functional. In the middle of the mess of gears and chain links, though, in a smaller box of its own, was his most valuable possession: a worn, leather-bound book written in an in unremarkable scrawl.

The book had been his great grand-father's, the diary of the Hero of Time. Zelda was always after it, insisting that the book was a text of incomparable historical significance, but Link always refused her. The Hero of Time, despite being a dashing figure, was just a man after all, and he'd been rather fond of the ladies. Some of the stories he'd written in his diary made Link blush, and he blushed even more when he thought of Zelda reading them. He mostly just had trouble picturing his great-grandfather with skin, though.

Despite his short-comings, his great-grandfather had been a hero and a monster-slayer before him. Link had already prayed to the goddesses for answers, but his ancestor's diary might have advice that give him the edge on Prince Alistair or whatever dark wizard had created the doppelganger of him. Or, at least, that was the idea; someone knocked on the door before he could read it.

"Who's there?" Link demanded, shoving the chest back under the bed and out of sight.

"Nobody, Sir!" cried a small voice. "Just a messenger with a missive for you from the Queen, begging your pardon!"

Link straightened himself out and went to answer the door, quickly tucking his great-grandfather's diary into his tunic, just in case. He'd learned to be extra cautious around servants; as much as he liked them and wanted to trust them, they were always spying on him. He hated being spied on.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked his visitor.

"Her Majesty is waiting for you in the garden, Sir," the messenger said. "She's requesting your presence immediately!"

"Thank you," Link said, still regarding the other man with suspicion. "I won't be a moment."

The messenger nodded and bowed out respectfully, leaving Link to try and put himself to rights before he met Zelda. He was looking beyond scruffy, having spent almost a week in a dungeon. Unfortunately, he lacked the time to do more than douse himself in cologne and try and put his hair to rights before scrambling downstairs to meet Zelda.

Zelda was waiting for him in the garden as promised, sitting primly on an iron bench wrought with an intricate pattern of wings. Beside her, sitting on top of a glass-topped table, were several stacks of dusty books with gilded pages. Link sighed inwardly as he took a seat beside her. They looked boring.

"You're late, Link," she said, without looking at him.

"Sorry," Link said quickly, wondering what to say next. There's a new dark wizard in Hyrule and I think it's Prince Alistair, he could have said, or perhaps, I disobeyed your orders and went after that doppelganger, but it's more horrible than you can imagine. None of those seemed quite right, though. Instead he said, "Nice dress."

Zelda smiled and brushed her hair over her shoulder. "Oh, Link," she said, "I think we both know you weren't looking at my dress."

"Don't play coy. No one wears a neckline that low unless they're trying to impress someone," he said, turning his head to hide his burning cheeks. "Who's the lucky guy? Should I be jealous?"

"Stop being silly," Zelda said, then for a moment she went quiet, twiddling her thumbs anxiously in her lap. "I worried that you wouldn't come," she admitted, "after that bit off unpleasantness that occurred yesterday."

"Oh, you mean the whole 'sending me to my room business'? It's no big deal; that was probably for my own good," Link said, thinking of the doppelganger. "But for future reference, I do know how to take care of myself, you know."

"Oh Link, I know you can," Zelda said with a small smile. "Still, I can never help but worry about you all the same, especially when you seem like you're about to go on a rampage. I care about you, you know."

"Ha! So you care about me, eh?" Link said, nudging Zelda with his elbow.

"Oh shush," Zelda said, swatting him. "I won't say a thing more if you're going to tease me, Link."

"I'll behave," Link said, draping an arm over her shoulder to prevent her escape. "Now, tell me more about your undying love for me."

"Oh? And who said anything about undying love?" Zelda said. "Clearly the only reason I keep you around is because I need someone to kill the spiders and to hold my arm when I go to parties."

"And because I'm so good looking," Link added.

"And modest too," Zelda observed.

"Yeah, I know," Link said, nodding sagely. "I'm just overflowing with good qualities. No wonder you love me."

"I see what you're trying to do," Zelda said, pinching his hand between her fingers and lifting his arm off her. "If you think you'll be getting out of work by distracting me, good sir, you're quite mistaken."

"Work?" Link said, disappointed.

Zelda patted the stack of ancient-looking books piled up on top of the table. "Indeed," she said. "The Complete Genealogy of the Royal Family of Hyrule. I hope you're ready to work hard."

"Oh no, not the name thing again," Link groaned.

"Yes, the name thing!" Zelda replied. "It is very important to the Council and to me that we get this madness out of the way. Do try to co-operate."

Link groaned again. The subject of his name had always been a sore point among the nobles, he knew. He had no family name that he knew of, since he had no family that he knew of. Once he and Zelda were married he would, perforce, take her last name as his own. It would be beyond ridiculous to ask a ruling Queen to give up her name, even if he had one to offer her.

He had outright refused to change his first name, although the lords constantly dropped anvil-sized hints that they wanted him to change that too. Even with the matter of his first and last names taken care of still had to choose at least one middle name since highborn sorts liked to give their children long, fanciful-sounding names.

Even Zelda's parents, who Link assumed must have been good, sensible people, since they had managed to raise a good, sensible daughter, seemed have succumbed to the pull. Zelda's full name was Zelda Emeline Geneve Harkinian-Nohansen, which was a mouthful, and on the day of their wedding he would have to say the whole thing without faltering, or else their marriage would be cursed.

Coming up with a sufficiently regal-sounding middle name that didn't sound ridiculous with his plain first name had so far proven to be quite the challenge. Every one of the enormous mountain of books before them were volumes of the genealogical records of the royal family and they were picking apart the names of her ancestors hoping to find some ideas. It was another exercise in futility. The record was full of Daphneses and even fuller of Zeldas, which Zelda had explained to him were the traditional names for the heirs of Hyrule.

"That's stupid," Link said.

"That's tradition," Zelda said. "We don't get to choose tradition, Link."

Link rolled his eyes. "Well, no son of mine is going to be named Daphnes," he said. "We'll name him something majestic. Something that conveys authority. Something like 'Matt'."

Zelda laughed uproariously. "Matt! Now you're just being silly," she said. "Whoever heard of a king named Matt?"

"Exactly, he'll be the first of his name," Link said. "Don't you want our son to make history?"

"Hyrulian kings rarely make history, Link," Zelda reminded him.

"Hmm, maybe because they were all named 'Daphnes'," Link muttered.

"I heard that," Zelda said. "And I'll have you know that…"

Link looked up when Zelda suddenly fell silent, wondering what had happened but it was just one of the servants, a young boy with large watery eyes like a calf, timidly watching them from the breezeway. Zelda took pity on him and waved him over.

"Your Majesty," the serving boy said, bowing low to Zelda and giving a curt little nod in Link's direction. "Er…your hero-ness?"

"Please breathe," Zelda said calmly. "Now what seems to be the problem?"

"Message for you, Your Majesty, from Lord Thatcher!" the serving boy blurted out. "He's requesting your presence in the sick room, if it pleases you. Says it's an emergency!"

Zelda threw an anxious glance in Link's direction. Lord Thatcher was the name Shad went by outside his inner circle. Could it be that something terrible had happened to him? Impossible, Link thought. He's always so cautious! But still, accidents happened, didn't they.

"Take us to him," Zelda instructed in her no-nonsense voice.

The serving boy nodded and muttered something before setting off at a brisk pace, leaving Link and Zelda to scramble behind him. The genealogical records were left behind on the table, completely forgotten. Zelda arrived at the door first, somehow always able to make a mad, panicked dash look calm, poised and effortless. Link arrived at the door with significantly less grace, his hat balled up in his fist, thanking the serving boy for his time and bidding him to take his leave before he moved to open the door for Zelda.

The sick room smelled strongly of blue potions and ointment, and not just because of the empty glass bottles and open jars of ointment that were peeping out of the medicine cabinet on the far wall. The smell of potions and healing salves and creams had just soaked into the sheets and the walls over time until the whole room began to smell like suffering. Link had paid many a visit to the sick room, a person could collect a decent number of injuries when their work consisted of hacking things to bits.

Shad was already there, thankfully unharmed, but holding one of Ashei's limp, hands between both of his own. They'd had to cut her out of her armour, which now lay in mangled pieces in one corner of the room. Ashei looked even worse, if possible, her features pale and drawn and her fringe of jet hair stuck to her forehead with sweat. Zelda cautiously put a gloved hand to Ashei's forehead.

"Is she…" she began.

"Dead?" Shad asked. "No, she's just unconscious, thanks the goddesses. She's lost a lot of blood, but she's on the mend. They managed to get some blue potion into her before she could lose too much, but it will still take her a while to heal."

Link nodded sagely. He knew very well the limits of blue potion, it could fix any injury, but it could never replace something that had been lost. Ashei would be out of commission for quite some time to come.

"What happened?" he said.

Shad put a hand to his temple. "Would that I knew," he said. "The nurse said she stumbled in just now, covered in blood and then collapsed before they could get a word out of her. And look at this!" He peeled back Ashei's covers, revealing an angry red line across her ribs where the skin had begun to knit back together. Zelda put a hand over her mouth and turned away from the sight.

"Before they gave her the potion her ribs were broken," Shad explained, covering the wound down again. "Yet the wound was clearly made by a sword, not a blunt instrument. Whatever attacked her must have cut straight through her armour and into her side. But what sort of person could do this? Cutting through her chest plate alone would have taken inhuman strength!"

Link bit his lip. "Inhuman you say?" he muttered.

"Indeed," Shad said, "but that would be highly improbable. There aren't many non-humans wandering around Castle Town, at least not any that could escape notice and subsequent capture."

"Don't worry, Shad," Zelda said, putting a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "Ashei's attacker will be caught and brought to justice, I swear it on my honour. I'll double the guard! I'll look for them myself if I have to!"

"You're too kind, Your Majesty," Shad murmured.

Neither of them noticed Link as he slid out the door when Shad turned his back on him to cup Ashei's cheek in his palm. He heard Zelda whisper "Poor Ashei" just before he shut the door and charged down the hall. There's no way, he thought. There's no way. We killed that thing! It's dead!

Unless Alistair, or whoever the sorcerer that had made the doppelganger, had made another. Unless, there had been two from the beginning. His sword, unfortunately, was still hanging from its rack in his apartment. Usually, he was forbidden to carry a weapon around the castle, but how he wished he had disobeyed that silly rule now! First, he would fetch his sword, then he would find Zelda and get her and Ashei both out of the Castle to safety.

The doppelganger was lounging on the windowsill at the end of the hall like a cat, silhouetted in the dying sunlight. Its face was pointed away from him as it stared lazily out the window, but its head turned lazily towards him when it heard him stop. It smiled.

"My apologies, Sir Link," it said, jumping down from the window. "I would have been earlier, but I had to make a pit-stop to get back the sword that you and your little friend so kindly stole from me." He raised the sword in the air to show it to Link. "Unfortunately, she resisted."

"You're dead," Link said. "We…"

"Killed me?" the doppelganger finished. "That you did, and thank you for that, by the way. Luckily for me, I got better, but it still hurt very much, in case you were wondering. Just so you know, I would have been within my rights to kill your friend. She did kill me first, after all, but you know what I realised. I realised that such senseless violence wouldn't solve anything. Better to leave the woman alive so that you'd be more amenable to agreeing to my request. And what request is that, you may be wondering?"

Link didn't answer. The doppelganger went on talking anyway, its dead, monotonous voice echoing off the stone walls.

"My request, blood of my blood and brother of mine, is that you are going to break off your little engagement with the Queen," it said. "And then you'll leave Castle Town and never come back. I also humbly request that you do it as soon as you see her tomorrow morning."

Link clenched his fist. "Over my dead body!" he replied.

The doppelganger smiled crookedly at him, showing off a set of teeth that were far too numerous, too white, and too perfectly triangular to be normal. "Not yours, Sir Hero," it said with a wicked lilt in its voice. "Hers."

"What…"

"That's right, Sir Hero," said the doppelganger, its eyes lighting up for the first time with real emotion. Unfortunately, that emotion was undisguised glee. "You'll follow my orders to the letter, or else the Queen dies. And your friend too, of course."

An indescribable emotion. Fear, panic, bubbling up hot and urgent inside him, setting his hands trembling and stealing his breath away. "You wouldn't," Link said, once he regained his voice. "She's the last in her line, the dynasty would fall to pieces."

The doppelganger rolled its eyes. "Do I look like I care about the politics of Hyrule?" it asked.

"We are playing chess because it is a game that has much in common with politics," Zelda's voice whispered in his head. "Here, we are playing with inanimate pieces on a board but soon you will have the lives of real people in your hands. Your actions will have widespread, and possibly unforeseen consequences, therefore you must know when to advance and when to retreat, when to press your suit and when to yield and, if the situation requires it, when to sacrifice."

So this is what Zelda had been talking about then. Was this the goddesses' answer, then? To let go, to forget everything, to let Alistair and his creation become his successor's problem? There was no time now to analyse the Three's motives or try to find a way out, the doppelganger was watching him with a smile on its face that was as sharp and as cold as a knife.

"Alright," Link said, forcing the words through gritted teeth. "I yield."

"I beg your pardon," the doppelganger said, taking obvious pleasure in his downfall. "What was that?"

"I said I yield!" Link said. "I yield, damn you. You've beaten me."

The doppelganger put a hand on Link's slouched shoulder. For a moment its face took on a look of genuine sympathy. "That's right," it said. "I have, and don't you forget it."

It vanished into the shadows before Link could clamp his hands around its neck, and reappeared in a distant corner. "Oh, and I'll be watching you," it called to him. "If you tell anyone about this meeting I'll make you very sorry."

The doppelganger disappeared again, melting into the background like it had never been there. Link punched a hole in the stained glass window the doppelganger had been sitting beside. The glass cut his hand to ribbons, but he was quite beyond feeling something as trivial as pain. The part of his mind that was still thinking rationally told him to go straight back to the sick room and ask for some red potion to fix his hand, the part that was hurting told him he didn't deserve it.

He had no idea how or when he had gotten back to his room, perhaps his legs had carried them there on their own, but the next thing he knew he was sitting on his bed. He slowly picked the pieces of glass out of the wound, eight in total, before wrapping his hand in a bandage and lying back to think. The doppelganger had given him until the morning to tell Zelda he was leaving, which meant that simply sneaking away in the dead of night was out of the question.

Not that he could bring himself to do something like that, at the very least he thought that she deserved an explanation for why he was leaving, even if that explanation was not the truth. He would have to break her heart, he realised once the dull pain in his hand began to set in. It was the only way to stop her from pursuing him.

Then with his unbandaged hand, he knocked. There was no reply, although he knew that she was in there. For a moment he worried that his double hadn't intended to spare Zelda's life at all and had just been toying with him, before dismissing the thought. If the doppelganger understood that Zelda and Ashei's lives needed to be the payment for Link's co-operation, then surely it also understood what he would do if it broke its end of the bargain. She must not have heard him knocking.

Boldly, Link decided to let himself in. He eased the door open quietly, so as not to startle her if she was deep in thought. "Zelda?" he said cautiously. "Are you there?"

Zelda looked up from her paperwork, a small pair of round spectacles perched on her nose. She looked harried, as she often did when she was working. "Can it wait a moment?" Zelda asked. "I'm rather busy."

"It can't wait," Link said, entering the room and taking a seat in the one of the high-backed armchairs. "It's very important."

Zelda took off her glasses and looked at him curiously. "Is something wrong?" she asked, eyes flicking downwards. "What's happened to your hand?"

"It's nothing. Training accident," Link said, quickly hiding the injured hand under the table. "I just wanted you to be the first to know that I'm leaving."

Zelda blinked. "Leaving?" she asked. "You mean on a campaign? How odd, nobody told me anything about any campaign."

Link shook his head. "No you don't understand," Link said. "I'm leaving Castle Town, forever. I'm sorry."

Zelda blinked again, utterly dumbstruck. "But…but you can't," she said. "What about the doppelganger? It's still after us both!"

"The doppelganger isn't a threat anymore," Link said. The lie tasted bitter on his tongue. "It's dead, Ashei and I made sure of it. I'm sorry I disobeyed your orders, Zelda, but it seemed like the right thing to do."

Zelda got up from her seat, pressing a hand to her temple. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand," she said. "This is just so…why all of a sudden?"

Link bit his lip. He could at least have the grace to look ashamed of himself. "Zelda, I'm the hero of legend," he said. "Surely you knew that I would leave eventually, there are other people who need me. I have to help them, it's my life's purpose to destroy evil."

Zelda turned away to look out the floor-to-ceiling windows flooding the room with light. "Yes, of course," she said flatly. "Who am I to argue with the goddess' design? Yes, of course you must leave. Although, I had hoped…"

Here it comes, Link thought, bracing himself against the declaration of love that he was sure was going to come from her.

"Nothing," Zelda said, her voice suddenly hard. When she turned back to him her face was calm and unlined. "It's nothing. Just a foolish notion. Is there anything that you need for your trip? Anything that I can provide you with?"

Link blinked. He had just told her he was leaving, and she couldn't even tell him she loved him to make him stay. She was hopeless, and he was hopeless too for expecting anything different from her, though he supposed there was nothing to be gained by forcing a love confession out of her now. "No thanks," he said, attempting a crooked grin to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "You know me. I travel light."

"In that case, I wish you safe travels," she said. "And may the light of the goddesses shine on you and yours."


	13. Chapter 13

Link had half expected to be slapped. If he had been in Zelda's place, and some other idiot in his, he would have slapped them. He hovered uncertainly for a moment, waiting for Zelda's reaction, but all she did was turn her back on him and dismiss him from her study. He left the castle barely a day later.

Link had intended to leave with as little pomp and circumstance as possible, but of course Zelda had to be there and wherever Zelda was, her army of retainers was sure to follow. Still, it was still a relatively covert affair. The lords, happy as they were to see the back of him, would not insult the Queen by making a celebration of her broken engagement and so kept their mouths shut and their faces solemn during the entire ceremony. All of them except for Shad, who openly dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief.

Link knelt before the assembled peerage atop a raised platform while the High Priest pronounced benedictions over him, praying on his behalf for luck, health, wealth, strength, safety and various other blessings. Meanwhile Link's gaze continuously wandered over to Zelda, who was standing on the High Priest's left side, overlooking the proceedings. Her eyes were firmly fixed on him as well, but he could tell by the cold look behind him that she did not really see him. Her thoughts were far away, he guessed. Once he left, the Council would marry her to some pampered prince and she would never think of him again.

At the end of the benediction, Zelda assumed the High Priest's place in front of Link and, after a short speech wishing him good fortune, she bent stiffly planted a kiss on his forehead. "Safe travels, Sir Link," she said in his ear.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Link muttered, rising.

Then, with half the castle watching him, he descended the stairs and climbed onto Epona's back. He lingered a moment, watching Zelda's stony expression and Shad's tearful one, then he dug his heels into Epona's side and set the horse off at a gallop. Epona raced across the cobbled streets of Castle Town without trouble, shot under the portcullis and into the wide, green expanse of Hyrule Field.

Link half expected Zelda to come charging after him on her white palfrey to tell him to stop, to order him to come back to Castle Town in the name of the Queen, to finally give him the slap he so richly deserved, but after a day and a half of hard riding he reached Ordon without incident.

He could have only imagined the shock his old neighbours must have felt when he, Epona and all his things showed up at the entrance to Ordon Village. The familiar faces began to gather around the small dirt track that cut straight though the village to stare at him as he rode by. Link cleared his throat, urging Epona through the village and in the direction of his old house without saying a thing to any of them. This was terribly rude of him of course, but he was no longer Prince Consort and he didn't have to be polite to anyone if he didn't feel like it.

From the outside, the house was exactly as he had left it those two years ago, except the darkened windows were now full of cobwebs. Link unpacked his things and unsaddled Epona, stroking the horse's snout affectionately as he removed her bit and bridle. Epona nosed around in his clothes, looking for carrots, but when none appeared she tossed her head back in annoyance and ignored him. Link hitched her to a stake beneath the tree, where the veranda would protect her from the heat and the rain, promising to give her a treat for her efforts later. Epona lowered her head and began to munch on the sod as though she hadn't heard him.

Link hauled all his things up the ladder before he cautiously opened the door to the little treehouse he'd be calling home again. He was sure that, at the very least, Talo would have wormed his way in and made a mess of things, but except for the fine layer of dust that blanketed the room, the inside was as unchanged as the outside. Link kicked all his possessions inside and got to work.

Since he had taken his things quickly in his haste to leave Castle Town, there was no real order in his packing. In one bag, there was a boot, a few pieces of his ceremonial uniform, a ceramic cat, and some random items of clothing; in another, he found the other boot but no armour, and several of the trophies he had acquired on his travels. It was going to take some time to set everything to rights, especially since he had more things than he had left with although it still wasn't a lot. Someone knocked on his door while he was in the middle of fiddling with a parcel bound up in brown paper and string. He hesitated for a moment before answering. "Who's there?"

The door creaked open on its old hinges and the face of Fado, his old boss back at the goat ranch, peeped in. "Heya, Link," Fado said, somewhat uncertainly. "Mind if I come in?"

Link shrugged, his eyes returning to the parcel. "I don't see why not," he said. Fado had been a frequent visitor once, and he had never asked permission to come in before. It was odd, but the man who had once been his mentor seemed almost like a stranger to him.

Fado entered cautiously, as though Link were a wild animal that would snap at the slightest provocation. Link tried not to let that irritate him and continued to take the things from his pack one by one, setting them down around him until the floor was carpeted in random knickknacks and souvenirs.

"Didn't expect to see you back here anytime soon," Fado said at last, apparently unable to bear the silence any longer. "I heard tell you were getting hitched to the Queen."

Link struggled to swallow around the lump that had formed in his throat. "I was," he replied. "I'm not anymore."

He saw Fado's mind forming the obvious question and rushed to intercept it. "Sorry, it's been a very long trip. Can we talk tomorrow?" Link said, with deftness and aplomb that would have done Zelda proud.

Fado looked taken aback for a moment, then he recomposed himself. "'Course," he said easily. "I'm fixing dinner at my place, if you feel like swinging by, and if you're wanting a job back just know it's yours, no questions asked. My door's always open."

Link thanked him and went back to his unpacking, not so much as looking up as the door creaked shut again. Once the distinctive creaking of Fado's footfalls on the floorboards and the old, rotten ladder faded away, Link abandoned his unpacking. He dragged himself over to his straw mattress, threw himself down on it and slept the rest of the day away.

The following day was entirely uneventful. He rose early from bed, sorted through more of his things and then went to the ranch to see about getting his old job back. Fado, as promised, welcomed him back with open arms. His original position herding goats had been usurped by a big, shaggy dog with white fur, though, and Link was relegated to carrying around bales of hay and shovelling manure. Although he knew he was hardly being fair, Link couldn't help but reflect bitterly on the fact that everyone he knew seemed better off without him.

At night, his sleep was always restless. Zelda's face, the sound of her laugh, the way she smiled, her dry, acerbic jokes, the heartbreak in her eyes when he had told her he was leaving, they all disturbed his dreams and made his rest fitful. Then he would wake up at the crack of dawn, Zelda's laugh still ringing in his ears, and do the whole thing all over again.

"Link!" Fado's voice yelled.

Link looked up from the hay he was tossing and stuck his pitchfork in the ground. "What?"

Fado eyes him warily. "You seem a little worse for wear," he suggested. "Maybe you should go home for the day."

"Are you telling me to leave?" Link demanded.

"I'm telling you to take a load off," Fado said. "You're beating that hay bale like it owes you money."

Link scowled, looking sullenly down at his boots. Even he'd noticed that ever since he'd returned to Ordon he'd become sullen, short-tempered and was generally turning into a nasty piece of work, and if he could see it surely the others could too. Yet he couldn't bring himself to stop. Fado was talking again, and Link strained his ears to listen.

"Come on, Link, take the rest of the day off," Fado said. "It'd do you good."

Link didn't answer at first then, at length he said, "You're right, I haven't had a rest in a while. I guess a little break wouldn't hurt."

"Attaboy," Fado said, patting Link on the shoulder with an encouraging smile.

Reluctantly, Link yanked the pitchfork out of the ground, returned it to the barn and wandered off the ranch on foot. He was at a loss now. He'd hardly had any free time before, even in the days before the Twilight had fallen on Hyrule and he'd been forced to take up his great-grandfather's mantle and he might be miserable now, but at least his work helped.  _What am I supposed to do?_  he wondered, worried. Didn't he even know how to relax?

He marched himself to the outskirts of the village, picked a hill, lay down on it and squeezed his eyes shut. The sun seemed much warmer in Ordon than in Castle Town, he realised. It felt nice.  _This is relaxing,_  he thought, willing himself to believe it. He could hear the summer breeze blowing through the branches of the trees overhead and the long stalks of grass. With his sharp hears, he could hear something else as well.

"Talo, Beth, I know you're there," Link said, without opening his eyes or troubling himself to get up. "You can stop sneaking around now."

"Aww," Talo's voice replied. Link heard footsteps approaching him as who he presumed to be Talo and Beth plunked down on either side of him. "You're no fun."

"No way, I'm  _mister_ fun," Link said, cracking an eye open to look at him. How Talo had grown in the two years since Link had last seen him, and Beth too, if you really stopped to look at her. Link wondered if he looked any different to them, too. He certainly hadn't grown any taller.

"It's just that we've hardly seen you since you got back, Link, and we just wanted to ask you about your life in Castle Town," Beth said, fluttering her eyelashes at him endearingly. "It must have been so wonderful, working with the Princess and going to all those fancy parties and stuff."

"Yeah…" Link said, his mind filling with thoughts of Zelda again, "It was certainly…something."

"She's the Queen, not the princess, stupid," a new voice said. "Do you have rocks for brains or something?"

Link looked up at Malo, who was cresting the hill hand in hand with Ilia. Due to a stern word or two from his mother, Malo was home 'on vacation' from his stressful job in the world of business. The plan had clearly backfired since it seemed like abandoning his business to hang out in 'the sticks', as he had come to refer to it, seemed to be stressing him out more than anything.

"When are you going back to Castle Town, Link?" Malo grumbled, swatting at a mosquito. "I'll hitch a ride with you, I want out of here ASAP."

"Sorry, kiddo, but I'm not going back," Link said. "I've gotten out of the hero business."

"What!? Well get back in the business, damn it," Malo fumed. "You were my best customer!"

"Hey," Link tutted. "That's not the kind of language a kid should be using!"

"Wait a minute, what do you mean you're not going back?" Ilia demanded. "What about your fiancée?"

Link bit his lip. He still hadn't told the kids and Ilia that he and Zelda were over. What would they think of him if he told them he'd left her? And Ilia especially would be particularly furious. "We broke up," he said simply.

The kids and Ilia stared at him in stunned silence. "Huh," Malo mused. "She dumped you didn't she?"

Link didn't dignify that with an answer.

"You broke up?" Beth fumed, stamping her foot in frustration. "Why would you do that? I thought you were in love with her, or whatever, and you would've been king, Link! King!"

"Actually, I'd have been Prince Consort," Link replied without thinking. "It's not the same thing."

Everyone seemed confused, except for Malo who nodded his understanding.

"Well, what are you now?" Ilia asked.

"Now? Now, I'm just a simple ranch hand from Ordon," Link said, plucking a reed from the grass and into his mouth for effect. "Trying to make a living of the land and so forth. I don't think I was ever cut out for this adventuring business."

Ilia regarded him suspiciously, and Link turned his head to avoid her accusing gaze. "You guys shouldn't be up here," he said. "I'm supposed to be relaxing."

Ilia stared down at him, her pretty mouth screwed up in disapproval, but gathered up the kids anyway. "My dad asked me to tell you that we're having a get-together to welcome you back to the village," she said. "You better come."

"A welcome-back party?" he said, smiling fondly. "I've been back a good two weeks."

"Yes, well, if you'd had the manners to talk to anyone, maybe we could have invited you sooner," Ilia said.

Link pressed his lips into a flat line. "I'll be there," he promised.

Ilia nodded at him and left, taking the children with her. Link stretched himself and let out a long groan. So much for relaxing then. He made himself lie in the grass for another hour at least, even though it felt scratchy and the sun, which had been pleasantly warm a moment ago, now felt burning hot. He spent the greater part of the afternoon puzzling over what to wear. Obviously the formal clothes that he owned would be too posh for the occasion but all of his normal clothes were to plain to fit the bill. He eventually settled on a plain black shirt and black pants, before wandering outside.

The festivities were being held outside. There was no one house in the entire village that was big enough to hold everyone. Several small tables had been pushed together to form one giant, long one that everyone could fit around and the entire thing was lit up by a multitude of candles and the oil lanterns hanging from the trees.

The kids were nowhere to be found although Ilia was leaning against a tree, gazing vacantly at the lanterns. Her bright eyes fixed on him as he approached her.

"So you decided to come," she said.

Link couldn't decide whether the comment was intended as sarcastic or not. Rather than remark on it, he said, "You look nice." Ilia smoothed out the white cotton shift she was wearing. In truth, the dress was nothing fancy. It was a white cotton shift, entirely plain save for the embroidery around the neck and sleeves, but she looked nice just the same.

"Thanks," she said. "You too."

They stood together in awkward silence for a bit. Although he couldn't fathom why, he sensed that Ilia was angry with him and the annoyance radiated off of her in waves. Desperate for something to break the silence, Link tried at conversation again.

"There's more people here," he ventured. That was a nice, safe topic.

Ilia stopped glaring at him. "Oh yeah. A couple of new families moved in here after you left. That's Meredith," she said, pointing at a girl with a huge mass of red hair who was circling the table. "And that's her dad over there. Stay away from them, though. They're…eager."

Before Link could enquire after what she meant by 'eager' and arm hooked itself around his neck, hauling him into the bone-crushing grip of Mayor Bo.

"Link! Glad to see you back, boy!" cried the Mayor. "Got sick of that city life, eh? I don't blame you!"

"Glad to be back," Link said, not entirely untruthfully. "You're looking well."

"Nice of you to say," Mayor Bo replied. "I feel as strong as an ox!" He gave Link an extra clap on the back for added effect. "Well don't just stand there, take a seat!"

Link disengaged himself from the mayor's grip and made his way back over to Ilia where she sat beside Colin. At formal events, seating was carefully arranged so that no two people of the same sex sat beside each other. In Ordon, nobody seemed to care about such niceties so Link just plopped down between them.

"Hi, Link," Colin said, offering Link a shy smile.

"Hey Colin," Link said. "It's nice to see you again."

The sound of Mayor Bo ringing a brass bell drowned out what Link had been about to say, and all eyes turned to the Mayor as he began his speech.

"My brothers and sisters, we've gathered here tonight for a great cause. To enjoy each other's company and to celebrate the return of one of Ordon's most distinguished sons, Link," the Mayor said, to a smattering of applause. "May your hearths burn brightly in the dark!"

Everybody reached for the food at once. Link's hand closed around a small pumpkin pie at the same time as his neighbour. Link let go and moved to apologise to them before realising that it was the red-haired girl that Ilia had warned him about.

"Sorry," he said. "You can have it."

The girl stared at him, then a coy smile spread across her face. "Oh don't worry," she said. "You can have it."

When Link demurred again, she simply dropped the pie back on his plate. "I'm Meredith," she said. "And you are?"

"Link," he replied, looking around for cutlery but finding there was none, much to his relief.

"You're the one they're throwing this fancy party for," the girl observed.

"True," Link replied, biting into the food.

The girl batted her eyelashes at him, which seemed to annoy Ilia. Suddenly he realised what Ilia had meant by 'eager'. He gave the girl a puzzled look. Surely she couldn't have set her cap for him, could she? That would be absurd, since any girl who became his wife would be very unfortunate indeed. It would be unfair to ask anyone to wait the amount of time it would take him to get over Zelda. It had not been his intention, but he was beginning to put some real thought into becoming a wandering hero. The idea had merit.

"Listen…I'm sorry, Merys was it?"

"Meredith," the girl supplied.

"Thank you," Link said. "Meredith, you're a charming girl, but…"

"Are you really the Hero of Twilight?" Meredith asked, eyes shining brightly.

"He's eating, Meredith," Ilia said, narrowing her eyes at the other girl. "Let him alone."

"No he's not," Meredith replied saucily. "Link you're not eating right?"

Link stuffed a sweet potato into his mouth. "You see?" Ilia said, triumphantly.

Meredith glowered at her. "You know what, Ilia?" she said. "Why don't you just mind your own business, alright?"

Link opened his mouth to try and diffuse the situation only to choke on his mouthful of potatoes. Both women were on him in an instant, clapping him on the back to stop his coughing. Ilia was hitting him with unnecessary force, as though it was Meredith she really wanted to beat and he just happened to be in the way.

Link swatted their hands away and suddenly got up from the table. "I'm so sorry you two, but I think I forgot to remove Epona's tack," he said, managing to disguise his irritation with their behaviour. "Please excuse me!"

If Ilia had every truly suspected that he had done something so careless as to leave Epona in her tack she would have beat him bloody before everyone assembled. Instead she just looked at him solemnly and went back to her food.

"Hurry back!" Meredith cried after him.

Link nodded his assent as he left. It was better that the lie did not pass his lips. Back at the treehouse, Epona was standing perfectly comfortable beneath the lip of his veranda, sleeping upright as horses do. Link climbed up the ladder, curled up in his bed and went back to sleep.

* * *

That night, Link dreamed of Zelda. The two of them lay side by side together in a field of flowers, fingers intertwined with each other's, eyes fixed on the clouds. And they were laughing as though they had not a care in the world. Soon after Link pointed out a cloud that he said looked like "a squatting bombling", Zelda suddenly sat up and she forced him to sit up too.

"Link," she said, biting her lip anxiously.

"Yes?" he said.

She smiled at him. "Link," she said again.

 _Here it comes,_  Link thought, bracing himself for the declaration of love that he was sure he was about to hear. How sweet it would be to hear those words at last! Zelda laid her soft white palm on his cheek and looked directly into his eyes.

"Link," she said, slightly louder.

This confused him. Why didn't she say anything? "What is it?" he asked, plucking her and off his cheek and squeezing it tightly.

Zelda only shook her head and let out a little chuckle as though he had just said something charmingly endearing, then she opened her mouth and shouted, " _Link!_ "

Link's eyes snapped open. Someone was calling his name, he realised. The voice was definitely not Zelda's, but it was familiar, although it seemed to be coming from very far away. Too far to discern who it might belong to. Link ignored it. "Link answer me!" the voice cried again, clearer now.

The voice's owner pounded heavily on his door. "Link!" the voice cried, and this time it was clearly Ilia. "Link! I know you're in there! Let me in!"

Link made no move to get up. She was probably just going to scold him for leaving the party and ask him what had happened between him and Zelda, but he could hardly forget about her if Ilia was constantly bringing her up.  _I'm not home_ , Link thought, willing it to be true. Unfortunately Ilia was as stubborn as a goat and refused to leave.

"Link, answer me now! This is important!" Ilia shouted. "A carriage came into the village just now! It's the Queen, she's here to look for you!"

Link scrambled free of the sheets and threw the doors open so suddenly that Ilia let out a little shriek of surprise and leaped out of the way. "The Queen?" Link demanded. "The Queen is here?"

"Yeah, my dad sent me to bring you to her," Ilia said. "So let's go. It's not good to keep royalty waiting, you know, even if they're your fiancée."

"Ex-fiancée," Link said sternly, pressing his lips into a fine line. He ducked back inside, grabbing Epona's saddle and taking her bridle from its hook by the door. "I'll go to her right now. Thanks for coming to find me, Ilia."

He descended the ladder in a flash, saddling Epona up and fitting the bridle in place over her head without a word. Ilia sidled up to him as succinctly as possible as he fiddled with the straps and buckles. "What do you think she wants?" she asked.

"I don't know," Link replied truthfully.

He climbed into Epona's saddle in one smooth motion and, before Ilia could climb in beside him, he snapped the reins and bolted away from her.

"Hey! Just where do you think you're going?" Ilia shouted. He looked over his shoulder and saw Ilia's rapidly dwindling form waving its hands at him. "Take me with you! I don't wanna walk all the way back!"

Link only urged Epona to go faster, sending them hurdling away from her at an alarming rate. Instead of heading to the gates to the village proper, where Zelda would undoubtedly be waiting for him, he lead Epona deeper into the woods where he knew no-one would dare look for him. He couldn't bring himself to look at Zelda again, knowing how badly he had hurt her.

He spent the entire day roaming the tall, thick trees that made up the ancient woods, traversing the paths that only he knew how to find. He lead Epona on foot, unwilling to risk her taking a tumble by setting her hooves down in the wrong place. The forest might not be as magical as it was in the days of legend, but it was still treacherous. Even he would trip occasionally over a stray tree root or get scratched by a reaching branch, and that was when he was paying attention.

He only dared to return to his house when it was too dark to see anything under the forest canopy, although by that time a rainstorm had rolled in from the east and he and Epona had been completely drenched. By the time he got home he was cold, wet and utterly miserable but from the lack of activity going on in Ordon he could at least say that Zelda was probably gone. He tied Epona under the shelter of the treehouse before venturing inside but before he could remove any of his cold, soggy clothes a new voice said, "Here you are. I've been waiting for you for hours."

Link's mouth dropped open. Zelda was waiting for him, dressed in a fine white silk dress with accents of baby blue as though she were going to call upon the favour of a king, not some raggedy peasant boy in straw sandals. Her beautiful face bathed in the warm orange light of the fire she had started in his fireplace and she looked radiant, the sort of radiance that hurt your heart instead of your eyes when you looked at it.

"Zelda," he said, walking straight past her and making as if he was wholly distracted by some small task. "What are you doing here?"

Zelda quirked a smile at him. That same wry smile that haunted him, the one he thought was so attractive. "It's quite simple really," she said archly, resting her chin in her palm. "I came to find out why you've been avoiding me lately."


End file.
